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Saturday, November 7, 2020

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ELECTION 2020

National jobs report has good news and bad BUSINESS > A10

A changing of the guard for Seahawks SPORTS > B1

By Vivian WangThe New York Times

They came out one after anoth-er, with flourishes and fanfare. A six-hour documentary series showing the “heroic deeds of party members” and Wuhan’s “warriors in white coats.” A star-studded, 20-part drama fictional-izing Wuhan’s doctors, delivery drivers and construction work-ers. Another pandemic show, set to swelling choral music, that viewers said left them choked with tears.

Wuhan, once synonymous with the devastation that the novel coronavirus could wreak, has become the subject of glow-ing paeans across Chinese media, lauded by officials as a symbol of the country’s resilience in the outbreak’s aftermath.

Propaganda agencies have churned out the television trib-utes to the city, where the out-break first emerged, while the national Ministry of Culture and Tourism sponsored a new opera about its doctors. State news outlets have emphasized a rush of tourists to Wuhan, and at least one hospital recently welcomed business executives for a tour.

See > Wuhan, A14

Postpandemic, China seeks to glorify Wuhan with opera, TV shows

By Maggie Astor The New York Times

As the presidential race inches agonizingly toward a conclusion, it might be easy to miss that the results are not really close.

With many ballots still left to count in heavily Democratic cities, former Vice President Joe Biden was leading President Donald Trump on Friday by more than 4.1 million votes. Amid all the anxiety over the counts in Pennsylvania and Georgia, and despite Americans’ intense ideo-logical divisions, there was no question that — for the fourth presidential election in a row, and the seventh of the past eight — more peo-ple had chosen a Democrat than a Republican.

Only once in the past 30 years have more Americans voted for a Republican: in 2004, when President George W. Bush beat John

See > Electoral, A6

Electoral College aside, national vote isn’t close

By JONATHAN LEMIRE, ZEKE MILLER, JILL COLVIN and WILL WEISSERTThe Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Pulling ahead in Pennsyl-vania and Georgia, Joe Biden was on the cusp of victory late Friday as President Donald Trump signaled he will not concede and he stuck by wild claims the election was being

stolen.High turnout, a

massive number of mail-in ballots and slim margins be-tween the two candi-dates in key states all contributed to the delay in naming a winner. But Biden

held leads in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Geor-gia, putting him in an ever-stronger position to capture the 270 Electoral College votes needed to take the White House.

There was intense focus on Pennsylvania, where Biden led Trump by more than 27,000 votes, and Nevada, where the Democrat led by about 22,000. The prolonged wait added to

See > Counting, A6

J o h n M i n c h i l l o / T h e A s s o c i a t e d P r e s s

Demonstrators urging all votes be counted gather outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where election officials were tallying votes Friday. Ballots counted in Pennsylvania on Friday put Biden in the lead in the state, and in a position to capture its 20 electoral votes.

More inside Two arrested on weapons charges near Philadelphia vote-count site > A5

Electoral map > A6

C a r o l y n K a s t e r / T h e A s s o c i a t e d P r e s s

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks Friday night in Wilmington, Del., urging patience among supporters, but predicting an electoral win.

D a v i d G o l d m a n / T h e A s s o c i a t e d P r e s s

A Biden supporter who would only give his first name, Douglas, right, engages in a debate with Trump supporters demonstrating against the election results outside the central counting board at the TCF Center in Detroit on Friday.

Biden on cusp of presidency with gains in PennsylvaniaDemocrat says, ‘We’re going to win this race’; Trump vows new legal action

By Evan Bush Seattle Times staff reporter

Health officials are becoming increasingly concerned about hospital capacity as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Wash-ington state.

“If our COVID activity contin-ues on the same path we are on, we’re going to be bumping up against our health care capacity,” said Dr. Kathy Lofy, the state’s health officer, adding that case counts were “exploding in West-ern Washington, in particular.”

Washington reported a record number of new coronavirus cases on Friday, with 1,691. The state’s rolling average of daily cases is more than twice as high as it was two months ago, and climbing. Hospitalizations are trending higher also.

Washington is testing more people for the virus that causes COVID-19 compared to two months ago. But, the statewide positivity rate is higher now, an indication the rise in cases is not merely reflective of more testing.

Statewide, about 72% of inten-sive care unit beds were in use as of Nov. 2, according to data from the Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA). About 62%

See > Surge, A9

State health officials eye hospital capacity as cases riseCOVID- 19 | Fears of inadequate beds, overworked nurses, cold-weather surge.