And physicians we have. Because over 1700 amy nearly 1600 people died tuesday in the United States from covid in the deadliest day of the pandemic in six months, we go to el paso, texas, where authorities have set up 10 words. Then to north dakota, the deadliest state in the world for covid. We will look at how the virus has devastated Indian Country. Black americans and latinas are three times as likely to contract covid than others and more likely to die. Native americans are more than four times as likely to be hospitalized as others. Amy we will speak to members of the Standing Rock sioux tribe in north dakota, the Oneida Nation and a navajo activist in arizona. We will talk about covid and the resident it voter turnout of native americans. Unprecedented voter turnout of native americans. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman. Over people died in the united 1700 states tuesday from covid19 in whats been described as the deadliest day of the pandemic in six months. The overall u. S. Death toll is approaching a world high of 250,000. At least 20 states have broken new records for covidrelated spitalizations. In news from washington, d. C. , 87yearold iowa senator Chuck Grassley has tested positive for covid19. He is the oldest republican in the senate. He is president pro tem, making him third in line for the presidency. Grassley spoke from the senate floor without his mask monday. During mondays senate session, ohios Sherrod Brown blasted republicans for their wanton disregard for basic coronavirus Protection Measures and asked alaskan senator dan sullivan to wear a mask while presiding over the chamber. I would start by asking the presiding officer to please wear a mask while he speaks. The people below him i cant tell you what to do i dont wear a mask when im speaking, like most senators. I dont need your instruction will stop i know you dont need my instruction, but there clearly isnt much interest in this body of Public Health. We have a president who has not shown up at the Coronavirus Task force meeting in months. We have a majority leader that calls us back your to vote on an unqualified nominee, the same time to vote for judge after judge after judge, exposing all of the people who cant say anything. I understand people in front of you and the presiding officer and expose all the staff here. Amy in medical news, the fda has authorized the first athome coronavirus test. The nasal swab requires a prescription and can produce results in about half an hour. President trump has fired a top election securitofficial at the department of Homeland Security just days after he publicly rebuked trumps claims the election was rigged. Christopher krebs served as the director of the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency. Last week, the agency released a statement describing the020 elections the mt securen ameran histo. Trump red krebvia a ssage on twier. Ebs respded with tweet saying honored to serve. We did it right. Defend today, secure tomorrow. Protect2020. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the firing a dangerous and shameful charade. Krebss deputy matt travis has so been reportedlyorceout ofis job. Michiga electioofficial in the stelargest unty certifiejoe bids viory tuesdanight afr a dramic versal. The two ite repuicans onhe wayncounty brd of caassers initiallblocked rtificatn sayi they dinot want t inude votes om detroit whicoverwhelngly suprted biden. Esident trp th tooto twitter to praise the republican effort, saying having courage is a beautiful thing. The usa stands proud reverend wendell anthony, the president of the naacp in detroit, criticized republican efforts to disenfranchise votes in detroit. Have extracted a black city out of a county is that the 80 of thet fault people who resign there are africanamericans. Shame on you. Shame on you. You are a disgrace as it relates to the ability to have a free and impartial election in this nation. Amy ned staebler, a Vice President at Wayne State University in detroit, also criticized the republicans on the wayne county board of canvassers. I just want to let you know that you of racism have covered yourself in is going to follow you throughout history. Your grandchildren are going to all connor orike george wallace. Amy president elect joe biden announced senior white house appointments tuesday. Among them, louisiana congressmember and former Congressional Black Caucus chair cedric richmond, who has been tapped to lead the White House Office of public engagement. Climate activists slammed the decision with Sunrise Movements Varshini Prakash saying today feels like a betrayal because one of president elect bidens very first hires for his administration has taken more donations from the fossil fuel industry during his congressional career than any other democrat. The Sunrise Movement also accused richmond of ignong members of his community who have suffered from toxic pollution and sealevel rise. The senate voted tuesday to block the confirmation of Trump Nominee judy shelton to the board of the federal reserve. The 4750 vote came after two republican senators missed the vote Chuck Grassley, who has covid19, and floridas rick scott, who is quarantining after exposure to the virus and two republican sided with democrats, mitt romney and susan collins. Lamar alexander was not present for the vote. Jority leader Mitch Mcconnell changed his vote to no, a procedural maneuver that gives him the chance to bring her nomination up again later. Shelton has criticized the feds independence and has advocated returning to the Gold Standard a controversial Monetary System where the value of the dollar would be directly linked to gold. She has also been condemned for changing her views to line up with trumps and for regularly scheduling press interviews at the trump hotel. As secretary of state mike pompeo is scheduled to visit an illegal israeli settlement in the occupied west bank this week, over 40 House Democrats are calling on him to condemn the illegal demolition of the Bedouin Community of Khirbet Humsah in the Jordan Valley by Israeli Forces earlier this month, which left dozens of people homeless. The effort was led by wisconsin congressmember mark pocan, who said in a statement there is no excuse for the de facto annexation of palestinian land, and america cannot remain silent in the face of these human rights abuses any longer. The iranian government has warned of a crushing response if the Trump Administration strikes irans main nuclear site or attacks any of its allies in the region in the last two months of trumps presidency. The New York Times reported this week trump may still be looking for ways to attack iran despite advisors warning him a strike could escalate into a bigger conflict. Ethiopian Prime Minister abiy ahmed is rejecting international pleas to end the countrys to recall conflict and said military operations in the semiautonomous Northern State of tigray are entering their final phase. Hundreds of people have died since ethiopian troops began the attack on tigray on november 4. More than 25,000 refugees have fled into sudan. In mexico, a group of 120 indigenous otomi families has indefinitely moved into the mexico city offices of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples to demand an end to continuous government violence and neglect during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond. The occupation has been in place since Indigenous Peoples day and is being led by otomi women, who are calling on the government to immediately meet their needs, including Food Security and access to health care, work, education, and housing. The u. S. Government has agreed to drop all charges against mexicos former defense secretary, general salvador cienfuegos, and to allow for his return to mexico. Cienfuegos was arrested at a los angeles airport in october and indicted on Money Laundering and Drug Trafficking charges. He had been accused of working with the Beltran Leyva cartel to arrest and torture rivals in exchange for bribes. The Mexican Government has not committed to arrest or charge cienfuegos. He served as defense secretary under former president enrique pena nieto. Back in the United States, President Trump is pushing through new rus making it harder for people to obtain government benefits. A new regulation will make it harder for people who are denied disability benefits to appeal by allowing the Social Security administration to use its own lawyers to hear the appeals, instead of Administrative Law judges, who are more independent. Meanwhile, two pending rules would restrict Eligibility Criteria for food assistance, potentially kicking millions off the government plan. The Supreme Court on monday denied a request by elderly prisoners to require stronger pandemic precautions at a texas prison, despite older people being much more vulnerable to the coronavirus. This comes as a group of prominent religious leaders and peace activists have called on new York Governor Andrew Cuomo to grant clemency to 76yearold david gilbert, a Weather Underground activist who has been behind bars for nearly four decades for his role in the murder of two Police Officers and a Security Guard in 1981. The tter to Governor Cuomo was signed by nobel peace laureates, including Archbishop Desmond tutu and the families of Martin Luther king, jr. And mahatma gandhi. And here in new york ahead of an expected travel boom next week for thanksgiving, airport workers rallied at laguardia tuesday to demand Governor Andrew Cuomo sign the healthy terminals act which would provide 25,000 frontline Airport Service workers with access to health insurance. The majority of the workers are black, brown, and immigrant. 32 president local kyle bragg. It is clearly life and death workers. This matter is a matter of humanity and of justice and what side we will be on and remembered for and it is crisis. Did we stand up for workers . Did we stand up for the airport workers . The essential workers who keep this place moving . Will they have the confidence and security of a Health Care Plan . Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman in new york where the covid numbers are going up, joined by my cohost jerseynzalez in new where the numbers are escalating alarmingly. Hi, juan. Juan hi, amy. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. People died from covid tuesday in the United States. It is the deadliest day of the pandemic in at least six months. As Public Health officials across the United States brace for a covid19 surge from the thanksgiving holiday amid already recordhigh infection rates, some republican governors are dropping their resistance to mask mandates, including Iowa Governor kim reynolds, who imposed a limited mask mandate tuesday. But many of these same governors continue to hold off on implementing other Public Health measures. In texas, where coronavirus case have reached record highs for a second time in the pandemic, Governor Greg Abbott says no new lockdown is coming. Hes even pushing back on local policies in places like El Paso County along the mexico border, which is facing one of the worst covid19 outbreaks in the country. After the Texas Attorney general sued to stop an order closing nonessential businesses in el paso, a state Appeals Court agreed with the challenge thursday, which allowed businesses to open the next day. About 80 of el paso residents are latinx. The county now has 10 mobile morgues to hold bodies. Some prisoners are being paid just 2 an hour to move the bodies as the number of cases and deaths has completely overwhelmed local hospitals. They are moving the corpses. A traveling nurse who worked at the El Paso UniversityMedical Center spoke out about what she called a horrific scene for patients with covid19. In a facebook video earlier this month, lawanna rivers also described a room she calls the pit, where she says patients were sent to die with minimal treatment. They did not aggressively treat thems they should have. And accoing to their sff, doctors at the hospital even before vid. I saw a lot of people died that i feel like should not have died. It broke me. What i was put in what is called the pit. ,n the pit wasight patients covidpositive. My first day of orientation, i was told whatever patients go intohe pitthey only come out in a body bag. Ced ients that we because they were covidpositive, this hospital policy was the only get ree rounds of cpr, which is only six minutes. Out of all the codes we have, theres not a single patient that made it. Literally,this, almost destroyed me. Husband, called my best friend from there. I just cried. I just said, what i am seeing here is just not right. Amy that is visiting nurse lawanna rivers describing a hospital in el paso. Well, for more, we go to el paso to speak with dr. Emilio gonzalez ayala, a leading pulmonary disease and Critical Care specialist. Thank you so much for taking the to usdr. Ayala, to speak today. If you can start off by describing the situation in el paso, so extreme that the county administration or dried to put administrator try to put restrictions on el paso and the governor prevented them from being implemented . Unfortunately, we have been facing these decisions by the government of the state and obviously, as you mentioned, before the mandate to close nonessential businesses has impacted us in a significant way because we continued to see the surge of numbers in the hospitals, in the er throughout the city, and we are at capacity. We are beyond the limit where we to admit to the hospital patients that come in critically ill and we are flying them out directly from the er to other hospitals in the state where they can be admitted and treated. We are keeping a large numr of intubated and ventilated patients in the er waiting for beds to open in the icu, but are toos these patients unstable and to critically ill to continue waiting there so we need to make race for them by either moving the stable patients in the icu or flying out the stable ones that are in the er. Juan dr. Gonzalez, i want to ask you about the situation in juarez, across the border, often called the sister city of el paso. Some people would argue that el paso is actually a suburb of juarez, which is a much, much bigger city. Your sense of how the close relationship between these two cities has affected the covid pandemic one way or the other . Well, it is the same city in essence. Its called the metroplex, war is el paso. Obviously, we have a lot of patients that e u. S. Residents and u. S. Citizens that reside the other side of the border and they can come in legally, obviously, and request to be seen and treated in el paso as they are rightly citizens or residents. Obviously, we are seeing those patients come across the border. That impacts also our ability to continue to treat patients in the hospital. They are at capacity as well. There is no place no hospital in war is that has available beds. It is the same situation in essence. Of thehis whole issue refusal of state officials to allow the municipality and the local officials to implement the kinds of restrictions on public toherings that you want have . What is the impact of that on your being able to curb the pandemic . Obviously, were not going to be able to curb that surge in numbers without those mandates. Obviously, we are entering the influenza season and we are already seeing patients presenting with both infections influenza and covid. Obviously, that does not help but all. We are pleading with the public to avoid visiting or bringing in visitors during the holidays. Thanksgiving is in the next couple of weeks. We are asking them not to relax precautions and to avoid even getting their neighbors into their houses to celebrate. I think if we want to continue to celebrate these holidays next year, we need