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Europe re-enters lockdown in face of "stronger and deadlier" coronavirus wave

28 October 2020
Dan Ackermann

The coronavirus is still winning: Now even Germany is entering another national lockdown, joined by France.

Why it matters: France has been "overpowered by a second wave,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a nationally televised address today. Macron said the "new wave will be strongerand deadlier" than the first.

The big picture: Hospitalizations are spiking in Europe, just like in the U.S.

  • German hospitalizations have doubled in the last 10 days, Chancellor Angela Merkel said today.
  • Dutch hospitals "have reached their limits" and they're sending patients to Germany, Reuters reports.
  • Russia says hospital beds are at 90% of capacity in 16 of its regions.

Between the lines: Europe's second lockdown will look a lot different.

  • Schools and child care will stay open.
  • It won't be as hard to visit assisted living facilities or go to funerals.
  • Germany's lockdown will end by Dec. 1.
  • France's runs through at least Dec. 1, but also requires daily infections to fall below 5,000.
  • There have been over 36,000 new cases in France in the last 24 hours.

The countries are also propping up affected sectors.

  • The German government will provide 75% compensation to small and midsize businesses hurt by the closures.

The bottom line: “Within weeks, we will reach the limits of our health system,” Merkel said today.

  • “It is completely clear that we must act, and act now, to prevent a national health crisis.”

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.