Make that: 300,000 deaths from Covid (in US); and the worst is yet to come

✅300,000 more people across the country had died than would be expected in a typical year 

—Washington Post 

     The pandemic has led to at least 80,000 more U.S. deaths than the official toll records, according to a report on excess mortality released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

     The country's tally of confirmed coronavirus deaths stood at about 220,000 as of this afternoon. But the CDC analysis found that, by early October, nearly 300,000 more people across the country had died than would be expected in a typical year. The hidden fatalities are believed to be people who died of covid-19 without being diagnosed, or who died of other causes because they were unwilling or unable to seek medical care during the outbreak. 

      The pandemic's shadow death toll also includes a surprisingly large number of victims in their 20s, 30s and 40s. “The number of people dying from this pandemic is higher than we think,” said Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University, who has conducted similar studies on excess fatalities. He told The Washington Post that the United States will likely suffer at least 400,000 excess deaths by the year's end.

✅Covid-19 Live Updates: A Third Coronavirus Surge Has Taken Root in the U.S.  

—NYT 

     After weeks of spread and warnings in certain areas, a third surge of coronavirus infections has now firmly taken hold across much of the United States. 

     The latest wave — which is raging most acutely in the Midwest and West, but is also spreading in various areas around the country — threatens to be the worst of the pandemic yet.

✅Today's OC Covid numbers: 302 new cases; 2 new deaths

Click on graphic

10-20: Women Are Falling Behind

✅Hate Crimes Spiking Across Orange County, Up 89 Percent Since 2015, According to New Report 

It comes amid national focus on rising hate crimes, especially against Asian Americans during the pandemic. 

—Voice of OC 

     “In 2019, there were 83 reported hate crimes in Orange County, a 24% increase from 2018. Of the cases motivated by race, ethnicity and national origin, 53% were driven by anti-black racism. Of the cases motivated by religion, 52% were driven by anti-Semitism,” said OC supervisors’ Chairwoman Michelle Steel in a statement announcing the report. 

 . . . 

     Activists have criticized President Trump for using the term “China virus” and “kung flu” to describe the virus, warning it feeds into racist incidents against Asians, while supporters of the president say it’s accurate for him to say the virus came from China. 

     Trump’s use of the term has drawn criticism from some in his own party like Young Kim, a Republican candidate for the competitive 39th Congressional District in North Orange County. 

     “The President’s continued use of terms associating COVID-19 with the [Asian American and Pacific Islander] community is hurtful to many across our diverse nation,” Kim wrote in a Facebook post the day after the president called the coronavirus “kung flu” at a June rally. 

     “As I have said in the past, no American of any race or ethnic group, is responsible for this virus. Our leaders should be working to unite Americans to defeat this unprecedented pandemic and the President’s words last night did not do that,” Kim wrote. 

     Others, including Steel, have supported the president’s use of the term, noting the virus originated from China. 

     “You know what? It started from China, so that is what he is calling it,” Steel said in late March. 

✅Women Are Falling Behind 

Large-scale study backs up other research showing relative declines in women's research productivity during COVID-19. 

—Inside Higher Ed 

✅Report: 28% of College Students Come From Immigrant Families 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     Students from immigrant families accounted for 28 percent of all U.S. college students in 2018, up from 20 percent in 2000, according to a new analysis by the Migration Policy Institute commissioned by the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. The number of students from immigrant families -- those who were either born abroad or born in the U.S. to immigrant parents -- grew at a much faster rate than the number of U.S.-born students with U.S.-born parents. 

✅A Raft of Pay-Gap Lawsuits Suggests Little Progress for Academic Women. Why Is That? 

—CHE

✅COVID-19 death toll nears 17,000 in California -- While the number of daily COVID-19 deaths has fallen dramatically in California in the last few months, the state’s death toll has become the third-highest in the nation, with nearly 17,000 lives lost. Luke Money in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/20/20 

✅California’s feared surge of virus cases hasn’t happened -- Near the end of September, with coronavirus cases falling and more schools and businesses reopening, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration urged restraint, citing a statistical model that predicted a startling 89% increase in virus hospitalizations in the next month. Adam Beam Associated Press -- 10/20/20 

✅Candidates, outside groups spend nearly $39 million on Orange County House races -- Candidates have raised a combined $44.9 million and spent $27.5 million so far in the seven House races that touch Orange County, according to the latest campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Brooke Staggs in the Orange County Register -- 10/20/20 

✅California officials see boon in Biden’s climate plan -- Biden plans to use California as a template for a frenzy of advancements in clean energy and environmental justice. The state would reap big benefits. Evan Halper, Anna M. Phillips in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 10/20/20 

✅Pandemic-fueled safety fears fuel gun purchases in California -- Fears of unrest, early release of prisoners, government overreach, even government collapse, led an estimated 110,000 Californians to purchase firearms in the early months of the pandemic, say UC Davis researchers. Darrell Smith in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 10/20/20 

✅A look at Orange County as first in a wave of school reopenings in California -- The reopening of hundreds of Orange County schools for in-person instruction over the last month — the largest return to school in a major metropolitan area in California so far this year — is likely to be a test case for the rest of the state. Diana Lambert EdSource -- 10/19/20