ABCDE

Prices may vary in areas outside metropolitan Washington. M2 V1 V2 V3 V

Partly sunny 62/43 • Tomorrow: Mostly sunny 56/44 B8 Democracy Dies in Darkness FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13 , 2020. $

Philippines hit again Typhoon Vamco lashed

the capital region, leaving at least 13 dead, 15

missing and countless people stranded. A

‘Poor judgment’ A r eport chastised Alexander

Acosta for his handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s

case but found no evidence of misconduct. A

WEEKEND

A very good year

for barbecue

The state of smoked

meats in the D.C. area

has never been better.

STYLE

Museum serves

with distinction

Philip Kennicott sees

t he new Army Museum

at Fort Belvoir as a

crisp salute to the

Constitution. C

In the News

THE NATION

Harvard’s admissions

policies do not illegally

discriminate against

Asian Americans, a fed-

eral appeals court af-

firmed. A

Social gatherin gs are

fueling a record-break-

ing coronavirus surge

across the country,

health officials

warned. A

A Louisiana boy’s

suspicious death leaves

his family asking if

r acial bias slowed police

response. A

THE WORLD

The researchers be-

hind Pfizer’s key coro-

navirus vaccine candi-

date are the h usband-

and-wife founders of

the German medical

start-up BioNTech. A

Germany’s protests

against coronavirus re-

strictions have become

increasingly radical,

raising concerns for se-

curity officials. A

Joe Biden ’s e lection

has roiled British

Prime Minister Boris

Johnson’s plans for

B rexit. A

THE ECONOMY

The Senate is expected

to confirm President

Trump’s Federal Re-

serve pick Judy Shelton,

whose nomination has

been pending for

months. A

Social media c ompa-

nies extended emergen-

cy measures to counter

the spread of misinfor-

mation as the president

and his a llies dispute

the election. A

THE REGION

Baraka, the National

Zoo’s 400-pound silver-

back gorilla, was (very

carefully) anesthetized

and given a thorough

checkup after some re-

cent abdominal

stress. B

Demonstrations i n

support of President

Trump’s refusal to ac-

cept the results of the

election will descend on

downtown Washington

this weekend. B

Many Republicans in

Virginia and Maryland

are following the presi-

dent’s playbook, ques-

tioning his defeat and

refusing to concede. B

Regional coordination

and building communi-

ty support will be cru-

cial for the successful

distribution of an even-

tual coronavirus vac-

cine, D.C.-area officials

said. B

OBITUARIES

Lucille Bridges, 86,

stood by her daughter

Ruby as she became

one of the first Black

students to integrate a

Southern elementary

school. B

Inside

EZRA ACAYAN/GETTY IMAGES

BUSINESS NEWS.......................A

COMICS.......................................C

OPINION PAGES.........................A

LOTTERIES...................................B

OBITUARIES................................B

TELEVISION.................................C

WORLD NEWS............................A

CONTENT © 2020

The Washington Post / Y ear 143, No. 344

1

situation is particularly acute now in the

Upper Midwest and Plains states, with

North and South Dakota leading the

nation in new cases and deaths per capita

over the past week, according to Washing-

ton Post data.

Experts say that cases are surging in the

peal among less-educated White

voters with greater support

among the more educated.

President-elect Joe Biden’s vic-

tory aside, the underwhelming

performance across the electoral

map has already fueled an inter-

nal bloodletting in the Demo-

cratic ranks, with party leaders

and strategists blaming wildly

inaccurate polls for the undue

expectations and expressing sur-

prise at the massive GOP turn-

out.

The results have buoyed Re-

publicans — particularly House

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy

(R-Calif.), who has pinned his

hopes of becoming speaker on

regaining ground in his home

state.

In an interview Wednesday,

McCarthy guaranteed the GOP

would win the majority in the

2022 midterms, citing the sur-

prisingly diverse coalition of can-

didates — women and minorities

SEE HOUSE ON A

BY MIKE DEBONIS

AND PAULINA FIROZI

Democrats have spent years

wooing suburban voters, seeking

to build a durable House majori-

ty on a foundation of affl uent,

well-educated voters repelled by

President Trump and a hard-

right GOP. But last week, that

foundation developed serious

crac ks.

Republicans not only reversed

Democratic midterm gains in

rural districts that had voted

strongly for Trump in 2016, but

clawed back at least one seat in

Southern Cal ifornia while lead-

ing in other suburban districts

that are yet to be called.

Even more alarming for Dem-

ocrats, predictions of broad

gains in the suburbs of Texas,

Indiana, Missouri and other

states simply failed to material-

ize — c asting doubt on the party’s

long-term House strategy of off-

setting the party’s dwindling ap-

‘We’re the ones who won’:

A GOP House guarantee for 2022

SEE TRUMP ON A

BY ERICA WERN

Congressional Democratic

leaders accused Republicans on

Thursday of refusing to confront

the dramatically worsening coro-

navirus pandemic and instead ac-

quiescing to President Trump’s

false insistence that he won last

week’s presidential election.

Republicans dismissed the at-

tacks and Trump didn’t weigh in

at all, with his only public com-

ments coming through Twitter

posts that included false claims of

electoral success. As Washington

has become paralyzed over the

past 10 days, 1 million more peo-

ple have tested positive for the

virus as death numbers are climb-

ing rapidly.

President-elect Joe Biden

joined congressional Democratic

leaders on Thursday and de-

manded a new economic relief

package to address the dramati-

cally worsening coronavirus pan-

demic before the end of the year.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch

McConnell (R-Ky.) flatly rejected

such a proposal, while Sen. Susan

Collins (R-Maine) implored both

sides to begin negotiating as the

virus appeared to be sending a

new shudder through the U.S.

economy.

There have been more than

100,000 new cases each day for

the past nine days — including

more than 150,000 on Thursday.

The crush is leading a number of

state and local leaders to pause or

reverse reopening plans. Chicago

Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued a

stay-at-home advisory for the na-

tion’s third-largest city Thursday

and asked residents to cancel

Thanksgiving plans. Maryland

has recently issued its own new

restrictions, and other jurisdic-

tions have signaled they could

SEE CONGRESS ON A

Democrats renew

calls for expanded

virus relief bill

LEADERS ACCUSE GOP OF IGNORING CRISIS

No talks taking place as cases continue to skyrocket

As Trump tweets,

many duties of

his office languish

BY DAVID NAKAM

On Thursday, six American

service members were killed in a

helicopter crash during a peace-

keeping mission in Egypt. Tropi-

cal Storm Eta made landfall in

North Florida, contributing to

severe flooding. The number of

Americans infected with the nov-

el coronavirus continued at a

record-setting pace, sending the

stock market tumbling.

At the White House, President

Trump spent the day as he has

most others this week — seques-

tered from public view, tweeting

grievances, falsehoods and mis-

information about the election

results and about Fox New s’s

coverage of him.

Neither he nor his aides

briefed reporters on the news of

the day or reacted to Democratic

leaders who accused Republicans

of imperiling the pandemic re-

sponse by “refusing to accept

reality” over the election results.

The contrast between the na-

tion grappling with an ongoing

global crisis and a president con-

sumed with his own political

problems highlighted a funda-

mental contradiction at the heart

of Trump’s assault on the integri-

ty of the U.S. election system: He

is leveraging the power of his

office in a long-shot bid to stay in

BY LOUISA LOVELUCK,

MISSY RYAN

AND MUSTAFA SALIM

baghdad — Iraqis who have
worked closely with the U.S. mili-
tary in their country have grown
increasingly alarmed that they
could be targeted for attack, fear-
ing their personal identifying in-
formation has been obtained by
Iranian-backed militias.
At a time when militia attacks
on supply convoys for the U.S.-led
coalition and against other U.S.
interests have been on the rise,
the sharing of this information —
including names, addresses and
license plate numbers — could
present a heightened threat to
hundreds of Iraqis who have long
worked with American forces, in
particular as translators.
The U.S. military provides this
personal information to the Iraqi
security forces, as required by
Iraqi authorities, to secure per-
SEE IRAQ ON A

Iraqis fear

work for U.S.

makes them

militia targets

BY DONNA ST. GEORGE

bethlehem, pa. — While

much of the country grapples

with getting kids back in school

buildings, this small city and

onetime steel giant snug in the

Lehigh Valley has had buses

running and classrooms open

for more than 10 weeks.

It has not so far had a corona-

virus outbreak in its schools.

But it’s been daunting.

Teachers carry a big load. Even

with safeguards in place, indi-

vidual coronavirus cases are

nearly inevitable. Contact trac-

ing and quarantining have

been critical — as have posting

information about schools af-

fected and keeping the trust of

anxious parents.

With one marking period

complete, school has become

a pandemic-minded world

where caution is melded with

the comfort of the familiar.

There is the Pledge of Alle-

giance in the morning, math

and reading, lunch in the caf-

eteria, breaks outside for re-

cess. But fewer than 40 percent

A blueprint for back-to-school

Reopened classrooms of Bethlehem, Pa., may hold lessons for other cities

of students are on campus at

once. They keep to new rules.

“It has gone better than we

expected,” Schools Superinten-

dent Joseph J. Roy said as he

eyed the latest trend data in

October. “Now we know we’re

not superspreaders. We have 22

schools. We’re this far into it.

We have no evidence that a case

spread and created another

case in a school.”

But coronavirus cases are

surging across the country and

in his region, adding complexi-

ty to what lies ahead. National-

ly, some school systems have

retreated from plans for in-

person learning. The daily

SEE BETHLEHEM ON A

KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST

Students in a gym class at Bethlehe m’s Nitschmann Middle

School. The city is using both in-person and online learning.

CHRISTOPHER SMITH FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

The Stedry-Stecklein family — Ben Sted ry, Katie Stecklein, Lilly Stecklein, Liz Stedry, Mitchell Stedry, Sophie Stecklein, Todd

Stedr y, Frances Stedry and Vivian Stecklein — quarantine in their Prairie Village, Kan., home as three family members have covid.

“There’s an awful lot of preventable deaths happening right now.”

Andrew T. Pavia, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah School of Medicine

BY ANNIE GOWEN

AND HOLLY BAILEY

Covid’s long, dark winter has already

arrived in the Upper Midwest, as cases and

deaths surge, snatching live s, overwhelm-

ing hospitals, exhausting health-care pro-

viders and raising fears that the region’s

medical system will be completely over-

whelmed in the coming days.

As coronavirus cases grow across the

United States — up 70 percent on average

in the past two weeks, with an average of

130,000 cases per day nationally — the

Upper Midwest faces a reckoning

Some leaders still resist curbs

despite surging virus cases

and ‘dire’ lack of h ospital beds

region as the weather has turned colder

and more people are forced inside — i nto

more poorly ventilated indoor spaces

where transmission thrives — with the

virus arriving even in remote areas in

largely conservative states where Republi-

can leaders have resisted mask mandates

or business closures, asking their resi-

dents to rely instead on personal responsi-

bility.

The region’s surge is a preview of what

the rest of the United States can expect in

the coming weeks as winter approaches,

SEE MIDWEST ON A

Calls for briefings: Biden finds

support among Republicans. A

Election security: DHS agency

finds “no evidence” of fraud. A