About 1,500 Americans dropped dead yesterday because of the coronavirus thing. They probably didn't wear a mask when they should have done that. In other news, Fucktard Trump continues to be a stupid fucking asshole. The idiot is going out of his way to make everyone hate him.

The Washington Post

The United States recorded the most covid-19 deaths in a single day since mid-May on Wednesday: nearly 1,500 fatalities.

The toll escalated as a new study found that New York City’s death rate in the first two months of its outbreak rivaled that of the infamous 1918 flu pandemic. “For anyone who doesn’t understand the magnitude of what we’re living through, this pandemic is comparable in its effect on mortality to what everyone agrees is the previous worst pandemic,” said Jeremy S. Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston who led the research team.

In extraordinary comments to Fox News, President Trump said he is trying to prevent the U.S. Postal Service from delivering millions of mail-in ballots to voters by holding up $25 billion in emergency funding for the agency. “They need that money in order to make the post office work, so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” Trump said.

The cash-strapped mail service is already experiencing days-long delays after Trump’s new postmaster general implemented new policies including a ban on overtime pay. Congressional Democrats have insisted on emergency funding for the agency in their negotiations over a new stimulus bill, which collapsed Thursday as the Senate adjourned for the next three and a half weeks. Many health experts say mail-in voting is the safest way for people to vote in November, but Trump has baselessly attacked efforts to expand it as a plot to steal the election. The president’s likely opponent, Joe Biden, called Trump’s latest comments “an assault on our democracy and economy by a desperate man.”

The Supreme Court ruled on pandemic-related voter relief for the first time Thursday, denying a GOP request that would have required a witness to be present when Rhode Island voters cast absentee ballots.

About 960,000 workers filed for unemployment insurance last week — the first time new claims dropped below 1 million since the outbreak intensified in March.

Hollywood is getting back to work after a five-month hiatus, but its fictional worlds will likely be transformed and restricted by the pandemic. “Crowd scenes are a no-go," our business desk wrote. “Real-world locations will be limited. On-screen romance will be less common, sometimes restricted to actors who have off-screen relationships.”

Other important news

A Georgia high school made famous by viral photos of barefaced crowds in its hallways on the first day of class will remain closed through the week after 35 people there tested positive for covid-19.

Popular, seemingly high-tech masks with exhalation vents and valves don’t actually protect people from covid-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned.