Europe's coronavirus case counts just keep climbing
09 October 2020
Data: Our World in Data; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios
Europe is now recording far more new coronavirus cases than ever before.
The big picture: One reason is testing. Deaths and hospitalizations remain far below the levels seen in the spring, though they continue to tick upward.
- Officials in Spain and France are scrambling to respond to their particularly worrying outbreaks. Madrid is now under quarantine, while Paris has closed bars for two weeks.
- Germany had fared better but is now facing a spike. Germany's public health agency said "parties and family gatherings, including weddings, birthdays and funerals, were the main sources of new infections," per the WSJ.
The flipside: Hope is rising that Latin America is now past the peak of a long, brutal climb.
- Hard-hit countries including Brazil, Mexico and Peru have all seen significant declines in new cases and deaths.
- It's unclear whether the encouraging trend will continue. The WSJ warns that "Latin Americans, comforted by the recent declines, have filled hair salons, bars and gyms."
- "With only 8% of the world’s population, Latin America has now accounted for a third of global deaths from Covid-19."
India's case count is also trending downward, though it's too early to conclude the worst is over.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly 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.