I know I'm a broken record on this, but folks, you gotta pay attention to what's happening in the states. I've never seen state legislators off to a faster start than this year.

A thread on what we covered just this week:

(1/14) Arkansas legislators are finalizing work on a huge K-12 overhaul that includes big teacher pay raises, ed savings accounts and 3rd grade reading requirements pluribusnews.com/news-and-event…

(2/14)

A thread of newspaper front pages hitting doorsteps this morning. First up, the Arizona Republic: ‘Democracy remains in danger’ Los Angeles Times: “Jan. 6 was ‘attempted coup’”

In their forthcoming book, @jmartNYT @alexburnsNYT report Trump repeatedly demanded loyalty and supplication from governors. When CT Gov. Lamont sought FEMA aid after a big storm, Trump called him: “Ask me nicely.” thehill.com/news/state-wat… @jmartNYT @alexburnsNYT Trump invited NJ Gov. Phil Murphy to dinner at Bedminster before his Tulsa rally, couldn’t understand the objection to holding rally on Juneteenth. Can you imagine “changing the day of the rally in Oklahoma to accommodate *these people*?” Trump asked - thehill.com/news/state-wat…

A tour of front pages this morning, starting with the Arizona Republic: “AGAIN.” Above the banner: “Donald J. Trump becomes first president in history to be impeached twice, as House charges him with inciting Capitol riot” 1/ LA Times: "TRUMP IMPEACHED FOR A SECOND TIME” 2/

NEW: @TheHill put together an oral history of last week’s insurrection at the Capitol. thehill.com/homenews/house…

In the morning, @RepAdamSmith ran into some protestors near barricades at the Capitol. “How do we get in?” they asked. “You don’t,” he said. 1/ @thehill @RepAdamSmith Sen. @timkaine thought it was important he focus on the debate over challenges to the electoral college results … so he left his phone on his desk.

“In hindsight, I wish he’d had his phone,” chief of staff @henry_mike said. 2/

It wasn’t your imagination: 2020 was the worst year many Americans will have ever experienced. My depressing story, and a short thread: thehill.com/homenews/state… 1/15 First, the obvious: At least 19.1 million Americans (and probably multiples more) got #COVID19. Most recovered, but a third of a million people are dead, hundreds of thousands more are suffering #longcovid, and more than 100k spent Christmas in the hospital. 2/15

The state of #COVID19 is not good. It’s worse than ever, even before the full extent of the Thanksgiving surge is known. More than 101,000 people are in hospitals across the US right now. That’s twice what the number of hospitalized were on Election Day.
1/12 States where cases have risen week over week, Sunday to Sunday:
AL
AK
AZ
AR
CA
CO
CT
DE
DC
FL
GA
HI
ID
IL
IN
KY
LA
ME
MD
MA
MS
MO
NE
NV
NH
NJ
NY
NC
OR
PA
RI
SC
TN
TX
UT
VT
VA
WV
WY
2/12

States where #COVID19 cases have increased, week over week (Sunday to Sunday):
AK
AZ
AR
CT
DE
ID
IL
IN
KY
ME
MD
MA
MI
MN
MS
MT
NE
NV
NH
NJ
NM
NY
ND
OH
PA
RI
SD
UT
VT
VA
WA
WI
WY

(1/6) States where #COVID19 cases have declined 2+ weeks in a row:
CA
DC
FL
GA
LA
TN
WV

(2/6)

States where weekly #COVID19 case counts have risen, Sunday to Sunday:
AK
AZ*
AR
CA
CO
CT
DC
FL
GA
ID
IL
IA
KS
KY
ME
MA
MN
MS
MO
MT
NE
NV
NJ
NM
NY
NC
ND
OH
OK
OR
PA
RI
SD
TN
TX
UT
WA
WV
WI
WY

* - AZ reclassified some past cases, so their spike is slightly artificially high States where weekly #COVID19 case counts have fallen for 2+ weeks:
AL
HI
IN
LA
VA

States where #COVID19 cases have risen, week over week (Tues to Tues this week):
AL
AR
CT
HI
IN
IA
KS
KY
ME
MA
MI
MN
MO
MT
NE
NH
NY
NC
ND
OH
SC
SD
UT
VT
VA
WV
WI States where #COVID19 cases have declined 2+ weeks in a row:
AK
AZ
CA
CO
FL
GA
ID
LA
MD
NV
NM
PA
TN
TX
WA

States that have seen #COVID19 cases decline 2 or more weeks in a row:
AL
AZ
CO
DC
FL
GA
ID
IN
LA
MD
MA
NV
NH
NM
OH
SC
TN
TX
UT
VA
WA
WI States where #COVID19 case counts have grown from last week:
AR
CT
HI
IL
IA
ME
MN
MS
NC
ND
OK
OR
RI
SD
WY

States where #COVID19 case counts have fallen 2 or more weeks in a row:
AL
AZ
CO
DC
FL
GA
LA
MD
MA
MS
NV
NH
NM
NC
OH
OK
OR
RI
SC
TN
TX
UT
WA
WI
WY States where #COVID19 cases have risen week over week (Sun to Sun):
AK
CA
CT
DE
HI
IA
KS
KY
ME
MI
MO
MT
NE
NJ
NY
ND
PA
SD
VT
WV

A consortium of pollsters has been asking people whether they approve of their governor’s handling of #COVID19. Long story short: People are losing patience. Gov approval ratings down in 44 states, up in only 5. My write-up here: thehill.com/homenews/state…

Full list to follow. 1/11 Do you approve of the way your governor is handling #COVID19 outbreak? (trend from late April)
AK Gov. Dunleavy 47% approve (-11)
AL Gov. Ivey 47 (-13)
AR Gov. Hutchinson 41 (-24)
AZ Gov. Ducey 30 (-26)
CA Gov. Newsom 58 (-12)
CO Gov. Polis (-14)
CT Gov. Lamont (-6)
2/11

States where weekly #COVID19 cases have increased (Sunday to Sunday):
AK
AR
CA
CO
CT
DE
DC
GA
HI
IL
IN
IA
KS
KY
LA
MD
MA
MN
MS
MO
MT
NE
NH
NJ
NM
ND
OK
OR
PA
SD
TN
VA
WV
WI
WY States where #COVID19 weekly case counts are down off recent peaks:
AL
FL
ID
ME
MI
NV
NY
NC
OH
RI
SC
TX
UT
VT
WA

States where weekly #COVID19 cases have grown, Sunday to Sunday:
AL
AK
AR
CA
CO
CT
DE
DC
FL
GA
ID
IL
IN
KS
KY
LA
ME
MA
MI
MS
MO
MT
NE
NV
NM
NY
NC
ND
OH
OK
OR
PA
RI
SC
TN
TX
UT
VT
VA
WA
WI
WY States where weekly #COVID19 case counts have declined 2 or more weeks in a row:
NJ

…end of list

THREAD: There’s a disconnect between the #COVID19 reality and the fantasyland of the public conversation around getting back to normal. I don’t want to be alarmist, but let’s be realistic about what we’re facing.
thehill.com/policy/healthc… 1) Things are bad. Really, really bad. The 10 days with the highest case counts in the US have happened over the last 11 days. Here’s the familiar daily case count in the US:

Lots of interesting and concerning stuff from Tony Fauci’s interview with @JAMA_current editor in chief today. He’s worried about the trajectory the US is on #COVID19 thehill.com/policy/healthc… Fauci says several companies have begun to mass produce their vaccine candidates in hopes of racing them to market if/when they’re approved. He thinks multiple successful vaccines are possible thehill.com/policy/healthc…

#COVID19 cases are spiking across the country. States experiencing week-over-week increases in case counts:
AL
AK
AZ
AR
CA
CO
FL
GA
ID
IL
IA
KS
KY
LA
ME
MD
MA
MI
MN
MS
MO
MT
NV
NJ*
NC
OH
OK
OR
PA
SC
TN
TX
UT
VT
VA
WA
WV
WI*
WY

see next tweet for * * - It appears NJ and WI reclassified some past probable cases as confirmed, so those might be artificial spikes. Still...

Just got off the phone with Harris County Judge @LinaHidalgoTX. She says Houston-area hospitals are at 100% operational capacity from spike in #COVID19 cases. Hospitals now starting to use surge capacity -- but those surge beds are for short-term use. 1/5 @LinaHidalgoTX Houston/Harris County models show the city will run out of hospital beds - including surge beds - in 10-40 days, and that range is getting shorter every day. "The trends are growing in a quadratic fashion. The trends are not linear, so our projections are conservative." 2/5

States showing increase in week-over-week #COVID19 cases (Sunday to Sunday):
AL
AK
AZ
AR
CA
FL
GA
HI
KS
LA
MS
MT
NV
NC
OK
OR
SC
SD
TX
WY States showing 2 or more straight weeks of #COVID19 case count declines:
CO
DE
DC
IL
IN
IA
ME
MD
MN
NE
NH
NJ
NY
OH
PA
RI
VA
WI

States where #COVID19 cases have risen week-over-week (Sun to Sun):
AK
AZ
AR
CA
FL
GA
HI
ID
KY
LA
MA*
MI*
MO
NV
NM
NC
ND
OK
OR
SC
TN
TX
UT
VT
WA

* - MA & MI apparently reclassified a bunch of cases in the last week, leading to a big spike amidst an otherwise downward trend States where week-over-week #COVID19 cases have declined 2+ weeks in a row:
CO
DE
DC
IL
IN
IA
KS
ME
MD
MN
NH
NJ
NY
OH
PA
RI
WV