With the election less than a week away, it’s understandable to be glued to politics coverage 24/7.
But the 2020 Election isn’t the only event making headlines.
This week alone, the US has seen a fall coronavirus surge, another fatal police shooting of a Black man and more West Coast fires.
Here are just some of the other stories that should get your attention.
US on track to hit 100,000 new daily Covid-19 case, expert says
Overcrowded hospitals. Cities ordering curfews. Case numbers skyrocketing. It looks like the dreaded fall surge of the coronavirus is here, according to officials.
Nearly half a million Americans tested positive for Covid-19 in just the last week. More than 8.7 million people have now been infected since the pandemic again, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The US is on track to hit 100,000 new daily Covid-19 cases, if the current trend continues, Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University School of Public Health, said Tuesday.
“We’re rising quickly. If we just go back about six, seven weeks ago to Labor Day we were at about 35,000 cases a day,” Jha told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “We’re above 70,000 and just heading up. I would not be surprised if we end up getting to 100,000.”
Protesters take to the streets in Philadelphia
The Pennsylvania National Guard mobilized “several hundred members” Tuesday night to help the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management and law enforcement amid ongoing civil unrest in the city, spokesman Lt. Col. Keith Hickox said in a statement to CNN.
The mobilization comes after Philadelphia police shot and killed Walter Wallace Jr., 27, Monday.
Gov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency requested the deployment of the National Guard in response to the protests and violence that followed Wallace’s death.
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said 91 people were arrested during the unrest Monday, including 11 assaults on police and 76 burglary arrests. Businesses were looted, and five police vehicles and one fire vehicle were vandalized, police said.
On Tuesday, about 1,000 people were looting businesses in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia, police said. Another large seemingly peaceful group in the Cobbs Creek section of Philadelphia confronted police near the Philadelphia Police’s 18th District.
Spurts of violence during the protest resulted in the Philadelphia Police Department asking residents to remain inside.
Southern California fires prompt mandatory evacuations
The Silverado Fire and Blue Ridge Fire are both burning in Orange County, California, and have quickly grown to scorch nearly 30,000 acres collectively.
At one point, the fires had put more than 100,000 people under a mandatory evacuation order, although some evacuations were lifted Tuesday night.
Even the Orange County Zoo was under mandatory evacuation orders Tuesday as animals – including bears goats and mountain lions – are being taken to Santa Ana Zoo, about 15 minutes away from OC Zoo. This is the second time animals have had to be relocated because of wildfire. The last time was in October 2017.
A power line may have played a role in igniting the Silverado Fire, which has burned 13,354 acres near Irvine, according to a report filed with California Public Utilities Commission.
The year 2020 has been a devastating year for fires. At least 8,000 fire incidents reported by Cal Fire have burned a record 4 million acres and claimed the lives of 31 people this year so far. And dry, windy conditions have prompted power shutoffs to prevent more.
Gulf Coast braces for Hurricane Zeta
Gulf Coast residents are bracing for impact as Hurricane Zeta heads closer.
The storm already made landfall in the Yucatán Peninsula north of Tulum, Mexico, as a Category 1 hurricane Monday night. It hit a region struck by Delta just three weeks ago.
Zeta then weakened to a tropical storm but strengthened back into a hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico as it churns toward landfall along the US coast Wednesday.
Hurricane warnings for the storm extend from Morgan City, Louisiana, to the Mississippi/Alabama border.
A new Supreme Court justice is sworn in
Justice Amy Coney Barrett officially began her tenure as the 115th justice on the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Barrett succeeds the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died in September. Despite protests from Democrats who claimed a justice shouldn’t be confirmed so close to the election, Barrett was confirmed by the Senate with a 52-48 vote Monday.
Barret’s swearing-in comes just one week before Election Day.
Her seat on the bench gives conservatives a 6-3 majority, shifting the makeup of the high court that could affect a range of issues that could come before it, including potential disputes regarding the 2020 election and the future of the Affordable Care Act.
Lawyers in Pennsylvania have already filed a petition asking Barrett to recuse herself form the election-related case.
Los Angeles Dodgers win World Series
The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series on Tuesday, clinching their seventh title.
The Dodgers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 in Game 6.
It was their first World Series title since 1988. This is the 20th World Series appearance in the storied history of the Dodgers franchise. The Dodgers will now have represented the National League in the World Series in three of the last four years.
“I had a crazy feeling that came to fruition,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s just a special group of players, organization, just all that we’ve kind of overcome, I just knew that we weren’t going to be denied this year.”