Good morning, this is for Coward with the Daily Beast. It's Wednesday, December 9th, and these are the top stories that Xi Jinping is watching right now. The United States has passed 15 million confirmed coronavirus cases. Infections are skyrocketing around the country, and the U.S.
had 14 million cases on December 3rd, just five days before Tuesday's new, horrific milestone. Despite the staggering figures, public health experts have warned that the worst is yet to come, but the surge in cases from Thanksgiving gatherings just now beginning to register, and another expected after Christmas. The U.S. has the most COVID-19 cases in the world, as well as the most deaths, with more than 280,000.
Britain began mass vaccinations against the coronavirus Tuesday, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is ready to grant Pfizer's vaccine emergency use authorization. However, experts predict it will be several months before enough people are vaccinated for general immunity. In her first interview since going viral and getting blasted by Saturday Night Live, Michigan IT contractor and self-proclaimed voter fraud witness Melissa Coron insisted to inside addition that she was not intoxicated during her now-impimous hearing with Rudy Giuliani last week.
Coron said that she would, quote, swear under oath that she was not drunk, and, as for the waves of criticism she received from her incoherent performance, she says she's, quote, not hurt, and explained that that is just her personality. She also appeared unfazed by the news that both Giuliani and Jenna Ellis have tested positive for COVID-19 just days after they both sat next to her for an extended period of time. None of them were wearing masks. Inside addition reported that Coron is refusing to quarantine despite a county health department mandate that states anyone who did not wear a face covering during the hearing must do so until December 12th.
As Senator's husband could be in hot water after buying over $1 million in stocks this spring just before the provisions of federal coronavirus relief became public. Jeffrey Sprecker is the head of the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange and husband to Senator Kelly Lawfler. HuffPost reported that in mid-March, Sprecker went on a buying spree while the stock market was in free fall, reversing a sell-off trend in his own trades from weeks prior. The CARES Act set aside billions of dollars in aid for the country, including tax write-offs for industries in which Sprecker bought stock.
At the time of his purchases, the CARES Act was still being written, it was not yet public, but Senate Republicans, including Lawfler, had received closed door briefings of his provisions. If Sprecker acted with non-public information from Lawfler, that would be illegal. Lawfler is in a run-off election for a Senate to see this winter, and if she loses, it could help Democrats take over the Senate. Former Representative Katie Hill obtained a restraining order against her ex-husband on Tuesday.
She described 15 years of abuse in her request, alleging that Kenny Hesle had choked her until she passed out, threatened her with a firearm, harmed her pets, and released nude photos of her that eventually led to her resignation from Congress. Hill said she had considered filing a restraining order for years, but was worried that, quote, doing so would simply make matters worse. However, she said she's now been left with no choice, as she's afraid her ex-husband, quote, will not give up until she is dead. The restraining order requires her to keep distance from Hill and members of her family.
An Idaho Public Health Agency was forced to cancel its virtual meeting Tuesday after COVID deniers' menace multiple board members in their homes. The Central District Health Board had gathered online to vote on what measures to put in place against the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the state, but it was forced to adjourn after anti-masked protesters gathered outside the houses of the commissioner and a board member. According to the Idaho statesman, the commissioner's son was home alone when the demonstrators arrived, and she urgently left the meeting to go make sure he was safe. The board member was home when the protesters arrived, and he said he'd flash strobe lights through his window, vanguard-ish cans, and wrapped on his door.
9 months. That's how long Florida Medical Worker Rosa Felipe spent in the hospital with COVID-19. But on Tuesday, the 41-year-old technician finally got to leave Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she was an employee, as well as a patient, and go home with her family. Felipe already suffered from asthma and diabetes when she contracted the virus, and she ended up on a ventilator and a heart-long bypass machine.
She turned septic at one point, will likely lose her fingertips, and has a lung recovery ahead. Speaking at a short press conference at the door of the hospital, she said the only thing she wanted to say is that, in case anyone was in any doubt, the coronavirus is real and so are its effects. That's all for this morning. Check back every weekday morning and afternoon for more of the news you need to know.
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