By Antonia Noori Farzan, Rick Noack, Marisa Iati, Lateshia Beachum, Taylor Telford, Adam Taylor, Reis Thebault and Meryl Kornfield, The Washington Post
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France and Germany are returning to lockdown restrictions as intensive care beds fill and new coronavirus infections test the countries’ health-care systems.
France and Germany announce partial lockdowns (CNN)
In Germany, bars, restaurants and theaters will close for four weeks, while schools will stay open. Classes will also remain open in France, where President Emmanuel Macron is expected to release more information about a national shutdown Thursday.
Here are some significant developments:
- The White House testing czar contradicted President Trump’s claim that a surge of new infections is merely an artifact of increased testing. “Cases are actually going up. And we know that, too, because hospitalizations are going up,” Adm. Brett Giroir told NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday.
- Boeing announced plans Wednesday to cut an additional 7,000 jobs by the end of the year as it grapples with vanishing air travel demand and ongoing fallout from the 737 Max jet crisis.
- After testing positive for the coronavirus, Los Angeles Dodgers player Justin Turner was seen mingling with teammates and pulling down his mask for photos to celebrate the team’s victory in Game 6 of the World Series.
- Saturday’s Big Ten football game between Wisconsin and Nebraska was canceled after the Badgers reported 12 people in the football program tested positive, including six players and Head Coach Paul Chryst.
- Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, praised Australians for their widespread mask-wearing and said it was “painful” for him that the issue has become politicized in the United States.
- Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden criticized the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic as reckless, saying it has refused “to recognize the reality we’re living through.”
- Watch: In a three-part documentary, The Washington Post explores a failed response to the coronavirus pandemic that has left 226,000 Americans dead, despite decades of preparation in Washington
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