Researchers at the University of Arizona are working to curb coronavirus outbreaks at the school by conducting regular tests of sewage from 20 buildings across campus, and it seems to be working.
The university said it stopped a potential outbreak before it started after it analyzed wastewater from a dorm for traces of the virus. Subsequently, two students — both of whom were asymptomatic — were found to be infected. While Arizona is utilizing other mitigation tactics like swab testing and contact tracing, wastewater testing comes in handy because its reportedly sensitive enough to detect the virus up to a week before an individual develops symptoms, which means there's a better chance of locating a case before the person can spread the virus widely. "So, you have seven precious days in which you can undergo intervention," said Ian Pepper, an environmental microbiologist who is leading the effort.
Wastewater epidemiology makes a lot of sense for campus housing, but it's not limited to that kind of living situation. Pepper told NBC News it can be done at the neighborhood and community level, as well, and indeed it's catching on — University of Arizona scientists have been analyzing samples from wastewater treatment plants across the country, researchers launched a countrywide program in the United Kingdom, and scientists in Israel have hailed it as an effective, non-invasive tracking method. Read more at NBC News. Tim O'Donnell
At least one swing state may be spared the political controversy of a late absentee ballot count seemingly changing its 2020 election results.
Every U.S. state is receiving a boatload more mail-in ballots than it usually does during a typical election year, and four of them — Alabama, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — won't even be able to open those ballots until Election Day. This almost guarantees a delayed result from those four states, but Wisconsin is confident it'll have everything set by the morning after the election, local election officials tell NBC News affiliate WTMJ Milwaukee.
Wisconsin's electoral votes will be critical in determining the winner of the 2020 election, as the previously Democratic state went for President Trump in 2016. County clerks all say they'll count ballots nonstop until they're finished, and expect results at 9:30 p.m. at the earliest. Waukesha County, the third most populous in the state, says its count will wrap around 3 a.m. And Milwaukee County, home to nearly a million people, expects to be done by 6 a.m. Wednesday.
Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) is preparing for a long haul, including pushback from Republicans. The state accepts all absentee ballots that were mailed before Election Day even if they arrive later, meaning a count to finalize the swing state's results could take days. Shapiro fears Republicans may use these late ballots "as a hook to challenge all mail-in ballots," and a court may then halt the count of all absentee ballots while the challenge is considered, he told The Washington Post. So to prepare, Pennsylvania officials will separate late-arriving ballots in hopes of avoiding a total counting shutdown.
Find when every state expects to count its absentee ballots at The New York Times. Kathryn Krawczyk
Unemployment claims are continuing to sink, but they're still far above even pre-pandemic records.
Around 751,000 Americans filed unemployment claims for the first time last week, Labor Department numbers released Thursday revealed. That's down 40,000 from the week before, marking a continuing slide in the final jobs report before the election.
Jobless claims hit an overwhelming record high in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and have largely decreased since then. But their decline has slowed over the past few months as the pandemic continues — and starts to worsen again. Congress has also failed to agree on a COVID-19 relief package that could extend loans to businesses that would let them rehire workers, as well as boost the amount of benefits unemployed people receive.
Also growing in the past week are the number of people applying for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program for the first time. More than 360,000 people filed for PUA benefits, which Congress created to help gig workers, the self-employed, and others not eligible for typical unemployment. Meanwhile continued jobless claims decreased 709,000 to 7.8 million in the week. Kathryn Krawczyk
Three people were killed and several others wounded Thursday in a knife attack at a church in Nice, France. The city's mayor described the assault as terrorism, and France's anti-terrorism prosecutor's office said it has opened an investigation. The attacker was wounded, arrested, and taken to a nearby hospital, two police officials told The Associated Press. The man was believed to have acted alone, the officials added. A police source told Reuters one of the victims had her head severed.
The motive for the attack isn't clear, but France has been in turmoil for the past 10 days over the beheading of a Parisian middle school teacher, Samuel Paty, by a Chechen Muslim extremist evidently upset that Paty had shown his class a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed drawn years ago by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The cartoon, considered blasphemous by many Muslims, has been widely displayed in marches to support the slain teacher and freedom of speech. In September, a man seeking asylum had attacked bystanders outside Charlie Hebdo's former office with a butcher knife. Peter Weber