October 4, 2020

Trump’s medical team reveals he is receiving dexamethasone, a steroid typically reserved for severe COVID cases, raising questions about how serious his condition actually is. Experts point out the contradictory signals: the president is on a potent anti-inflammatory drug used in hospitalized patients with low oxygen, yet his doctors describe his condition as improving. A Trump campaign adviser claims Biden’s mask is a “prop” even as the president remains hospitalized, a line that the campaign apparently believes is effective with its base. Sweden’s ambassador to the UK clarifies that Sweden never sought herd immunity, though he concedes the country did not do enough to protect the weak and elderly.

New York City announces it will shut down nine neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens where coronavirus cases are spiking, imposing new restrictions on schools, businesses, and gatherings. The targeted closures represent a shift from the blanket lockdowns of spring to a more granular—but no less coercive—approach. Thousands protest anti-coronavirus restrictions in Germany over the weekend, and the UK’s vaccine task force head says vaccinating the entire country is “not going to happen,” contradicting the political messaging that mass vaccination is around the corner.