A Blow To Morale: Virus Claims 2 Kansas City Firefighters At Once

ACROSS AMERICA — The blows dealt to the Kansas City Fire Department were swift and in quick succession. In a single weekend, the department lost two of its own as the virus continued its surge across the Midwest.

More than 200 members of the Kansas City Fire Department have tested positive since the start of the pandemic began, Fire Chief Donna Lake told The New York Times. Last weekend's deaths mark the second and third — the virus first claimed an emergency medic in the spring.

“It affects morale in a big way,” Lake said of the losses.

In an overwhelming portion of America, firefighters don't just fight fires. In many cases, they are also paramedics, Doug Stern, a spokesman with the International Association of Fire Fighters, told the Times.

Capt. Robert Rocha, 60, a 29-year veteran of the Kansas City Fire Department, and Scott Davidson, 45, a communications specialist and paramedic, were part of that front line. Rocha “was a very gregarious, larger-than-life kind of guy” who mentored younger firefighters, Lake said. Davidson as a family man who brought front-line perspective to his communications role.

In the United States, more than 3,400 members of the International Association of Fire Fightershave had the virus. Twenty-two have died.

The Latest

The total number of coronavirus cases reported in the United States in November has surpassed 4 million, more than double the record set in October of 1.9 million cases — and that sharp escalation isn't likely to level out soon.

Tom Inglesby, the director of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University, told the New York Times the country is on track to see an even steeper rise in cases.

“We are on track to continue this accelerated pace of the epidemic and see even more speed of rise of cases because of the movement indoors, of activities around the country and because large numbers of people have moved around the country for the holidays,” Inglesby said.

The number of daily cases is already nearing 200,000. On Friday, the country set another record of cases reported in a single day after more than 197,000 cases were reported.

Hospitalizations are also at a record high. More than 91,000 people in the United States were hospitalized as of Saturday, according to CNN. Until Friday, the country saw 17 consecutive days of record number of hospitalizations due to the virus.

The country saw a drop in cases on Thanksgiving, but that was due to skews in reporting. Many states did not report data on the Thanksgiving holiday, according to the Times.

Meanwhile, a telling number of parents frustrated with lockdowns and upheaval in U.S. public schools are making the decision to pull their kids from school completely.

Though no nationwide data is available, state numbers illustrate the startling trend.

Two and a half months into the school year, Massachusetts found enrollment in public schools was down 37,000, or almost 4 percent, from last year. Enrollment in New York City public schools is down 31,000 students, or 3.2 percent, according to preliminary data obtained by Chalkbeat.

Elsewhere, officials in Montana reported a drop of 2 percent, according to information compiled by The New York Times, while Wisconsin and Missouri have reported declines of 3 percent. North Carolina has reported a drop of 4 percent.

"In some cases, the charter schools are taking them, in some cases privates and parochials," Glenn Koocher, head of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, told The Times. "The bigger tragedy is that some kids aren't getting anything, because they've fallen off the map."

The new data emerges as the United States reported more than 197,600 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, a record as the country nears a sobering 200,000 cases per day.

Over the past week, the country has averaged more than 167,000 new daily cases of the virus.
South Dakota on Friday became the latest state where more than 1 in every 1,000 residents have now died of coronavirus-related causes, according to data tracked by The Washington Post. In fact, nine states have reached that milestone — New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Louisiana, Rhode Island, Mississippi and North Dakota.

In California, Los Angeles County became the latest state to enact a new stay-home order as coronavirus cases surged out of control. The order bans most gatherings but stopping short of a full shutdown on retail stores and other non-essential businesses.

The three-week “safer at home" order takes effect Monday. It comes as the county of 10 million residents confirmed 24 new deaths and 4,544 new confirmed cases of COVID-19.

READ: Stay Home Orders And Ban On Gatherings To Take Effect Across LA

While the latest numbers seem staggeringly high, a new study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention paints a worse picture. In the study, researchers assert that only 1 in 8 coronavirus infections have been reported in the United States.

The study looked at numbers through the end of September, when roughly 7.2 million infections had been reported. The CDC says that number was likely closer to 52.9 million.

Since the pandemic began, people living and working at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities account for more than 101,000 of total deaths, or about 40 percent, a New York Times analysis of federal, state and local data found.

As states continue to add new restrictions amid the surge in cases, the U.S. Supreme Court this week sided with churches and synagogues in New York, ruling 5-4 that the state could not enforce certain restrictions on houses of worship.

The decision contradicts the court's previous rulings on similar cases that deferred to local officials on pandemic-related restrictions, according to the Post.

In its ruling, the court decided that limiting attendance at houses of worship in orange and red zones was too restrictive.

In sports, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson on Thursday became the highest-profile player to test positive for the coronavirus. Jackson, the NFL's reigning Most Valuable Player, is one of several players and staffers on the team to contract the virus this week.

Sunday's Numbers

At least 106 new coronavirus deaths and 18,964 new cases had been reported in the United States as of 11 a.m. ET Sunday, according to a Washington Post database. Over the past seven days, the United States has averaged more than 163,000 cases each day.

As of Saturday, 45 states and Puerto Rico remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen. To safely reopen, the WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days.

More than 13.2 million people in the United States had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Saturday evening, and more than 266,100 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Stay up to date on the latest coronavirus news via The New York Times or Washington Post.

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