As Americans vote on Tuesday, they do so in the midst of a rapidly escalating coronavirus outbreak that is concentrated in some of the very states that are likely to decide the presidential race.
One of the most alarming periods of the virus has arrived just as voters pick a president, and reflects one of the most significant challenges that whoever wins the election will face: More than 93,000 cases were announced across the country on Monday, a higher total than every day of the pandemic except Friday. More than 20 states have set weekly case records, and more than 40 states are seeing a pattern of growing known infections. It is a nation with nearly 8 percent unemployment and mourning the virus-related deaths of more than 231,000 people, where four out of five Americans say they feel nervous about the country’s future.
The situation is especially dire in the political battleground of Wisconsin, where more than 100,000 cases have been identified in the last month and where spiraling cases show no signs of slowing. Areas around Wausau, in northern Wisconsin, and around Beaver Dam and Fond du Lac, in the eastern part of the state, have among the worst trendlines in the nation.
Deaths and hospitalizations in Wisconsin have also spiked, and many fear there could be worse news ahead, even as some patients are already being taken to a field hospital at the state fairgrounds outside Milwaukee. Andrea Palm, the secretary-designee for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, said recently that the outbreak’s devastation was vast.
“It is taxing public health,” Ms. Palm said. “It is taxing our health care systems.”
Across the political battlegrounds of the Midwest, the outlook on the virus is almost uniformly grim. Michigan, a key target for both presidential campaigns, has averaged more than 3,500 cases a day over the last week. Pennsylvania, another swing state, has been adding about 2,200 cases each day. Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota, which also reported a state record of 3,476 new cases on Tuesday, are also reporting cases at or near their highest levels yet.
“We are at a record number of hospitalizations — 613 — and that means we need people to pay special attention to washing their hands often, wearing a mask, keeping that six foot of distance,” Gov. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska said on Monday. Both presidential candidates see an opening to win a single electoral vote in the Omaha area.
In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine wrote an open letter to residents this week, asking both for patience during the voting process and continued diligence in fighting the virus, which he described as “an enemy that is relentless and clearly on the march” and that “cares not whether we voted for Donald Trump or Joe Biden.”
“As we confront this new enemy, time is not on our side,” Mr. DeWine said. “We must focus. We must rally together.”
— Mitch Smith The New York Times