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Ryan W. Miller,Jessica Flores|USA TODAY

Flu shot: When to get the vaccine during coronavirus pandemic

Public health experts say this year everyone should get a flu shot, if possible.

The U.S. keeps smashing its own records for COVID-19 cases as the fall surge of the coronavirus is running rampant across the country.

On Thursday, a record 153,496 new COVID-19 cases were tallied in the U.S., just days after it had crossed the 100,000 daily new case threshold.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director ofNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, signaled some hope Thursday: The pandemicwon't be around "a lot longer," he said, butpublic health officials might need to "maintain control chronically" over COVID-19.

Meanwhile states and cities are clamping down and enacting new restrictions to slow the spread. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown will announce new coronavirus measures Friday, while Chicago MayorLori Lightfoot announced Thursdaya stay-at-home advisoryset to go into effect Monday morning.

A day after Texas became the first state to record at least 1 million cases of COVID-19, California also reached the same marker.Eleven counties there were ordered this week to drop a notch on the state's tiered reopening schedule.

Some major developments:

What we're reading: As COVID-19 infections soar, we're tracking new restrictions across the U.S.

Today's numbers:The U.S. has reported more than 10.5million cases and 242,400deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: 52.8millioncases and 1.29million deaths.

Mapping coronavirus:Track the U.S. outbreak in your state.

This file will be updated throughout the day. For updates in your inbox, subscribe toThe Daily Briefing newsletter.

There's no evidence people are immune from COVID-19 after they're first infected, but U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, once again said they are and advocated against experts' advice Thursday night when discussing people who have already had the deadly disease.

"We should tell them to celebrate," Paul told Fox News. "We should tell them to throw away their masks, go to restaurants, live again because these people are now immune."

In fact, as several doctors have noted and repeated after the Kentucky Republican's remarks, there is no evidence to suggest that those once infected by COVID-19 are immune from getting reinfected.

Ben Tobin, Louisville Courier Journal

After battling a spring surge in COVID-19 cases that devastated their health care system, Italian doctors are once again facing strains on their resources as they treat a new influx of patients amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"We are very close to not keeping up. I cannot say when we will reach the limit, but that day is not far off, Dr. Luca Cabrini, who runs the intensive care ward at Vareses Circolo hospital, the largest in the province of 1 million people northwest of Milan, told the Associated Press.

Cabrini said that while ICU beds are filling up as they did in the spring, doctors are also facing strains in wards caring for less ill patients who may be younger but require care for longer stretches.

As of Wednesday, 52% of Italys hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients, above the 40% warning threshold set by the Health Ministry.The Italian doctors federation called this week for a nationwide lockdown, too.

The United States on Thursday reported more than 150,000 coronavirus cases in a day for the first time, just nine days after it reported 100,000 cases for the first time, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.

The United States reported the record 153,496 cases on Thursday. At that rate, the United States reported about 107 cases every minute.

It's not clear how well the case data reflects the size of the fall surge. In South Dakota and Iowa, most tests are coming back positive, data from The COVID Tracking Project suggests. That organization does not release numbers on percentages of tests that come back positive because of wildly different ways they can be calculated, and there is no one U.S. standard.

However, health officials generally have pushed for testing rates under 5%, and by some calculations, 40 states are worse than that mark.

Mike Stucka

The holiday season is upon us and so is another surge of the coronavirus pandemic. So what's a family to do?

While somestate and city officials have advised against large family gatherings, folks may still be trying to find a way to spend time with loved ones this fall and welcoming students back into the fold.

Dr. Adam Jarrett, who serves as the chief medical officer at Holy Name Medical Center in New Jersey, said that the safest way to try to gather would be to get tested and then truly self-quarantine for 10 days to two weeks.

With Thanksgiving falling on Nov. 26, that means quarantine should begin now.

Thats the only way that we can be pretty close to 100% safe, Jarrett said.

Katie Sobko, The Bergen Record

Counties in which Power Five schools are located have seen an even larger spike in COVID-19 cases than the nationwide average, adata analysis conducted by Emory's Rollins School of Public Health for USA TODAY found.

Communities in the Big Ten and Big 12 are experiencing the most dramatic increases in their seven-day averages of daily new cases per 100,000 residents, the analysis found.

All told, 59 of the 64 counties that host Power Five schools saw an increase in their average number of daily cases from Nov. 3 to Tuesday. Collectively, the counties reported an increase of 45%.

The spike in cases has wrecked havoc on college football schedules throughout the country particularly this week. In the Southeastern Conference alone, four games involving ranked teams have been canceled in recent days due to COVID-19 concerns.

Tom Schad, and Jim Sergent

By medical standards,Nicole Worthley is considered extraordinarily rare. She was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 31 and again in September.

But she can't prove she had COVID-19 twice. That requires genetic testing of both infections, which has only happened a few dozen times in the world and never in South Dakota where she lives.

Many states keeptrack of claims of reinfection but they are still considered extremely unusual, according to health experts.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement that it is investigating some possible reinfections but has not yet confirmed any. It only considers infections more than 90 days apart to be possible reinfections; otherwise, someone's illness is likely a lingering infection.

How long the body can fight COVID-19 offhas implications for the longevity and effectiveness of vaccines,the possibility of communities developing so-called herd immunitywhere the virus no longer spreads because so many people have already been infected, and how those infected once should feel and behave. Read more here.

Karen Weintraub

A Texas appeals court in El Paso has put a temporary stop toEl Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego's order shutting down nonessential businesses in El Paso County.

The Eighth Court of Appeals in El Paso on Thursday granted requests totemporarily halt the order. The requests were made by the Texas Attorney General's Office and a group of 10 El Paso restaurant companies, who argue that Samaniego's order is illegal because it is counter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Oct. 7 order tied to reopening Texas businesses.

The court, in a 2-1 decision,ruled several sections of Samaniego's order cannot be enforced, including shutting down nonessential businesses,until the court makes its final judgment, which is expected Friday.

We exercise our discretion to preserve the status quo as it existed just prior to the issuance of the countys later, more restrictive Stay-at-Home Order until the court makes its final judgment, the court ruled.

Vic Kolenc and Eleanor Dearman, El Paso Times

More than 2,000 nurses represented by a union planto go on strike next week as a surge in coronavirus cases continuesto overwhelm hospitals nationwide.

InBucks County, more than760 nurses atSt. Mary Medical Center will go on strike starting Tuesday unless they reach a contract with the hospital's owner Trinity Health. In Philadelphia, some 500 nurses at St. Christophers Hospital for Children and about 1,000 atEinstein Medical Center have also authorized to strike, the New York Times reported.

Nurses are stretched so thin, and I know theyre not able to get where they need to be," Maria Plano,a nurse at St. Christophers and the unions vice president, told CBS Philly. "We need some kind of guidelines where nurses are in the discussion and helping to make the decisions."

In a statement last week, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals saidnurses are being "pushed to the brink by unsafe staffing that seriously undermines patient safety, the newspaper reported.

With coronavirus cases in the U.S. reaching an all-time highthis week, the Ivy Leagueannounced Thursday that it is shutting down its entire 2020-21 winter sports season.

"With the health andwell-being of student-athletes andthe greater campus community in mind, The Ivy League Presidents decide to forego athletics competition in fall and winter sports, postpone competition in spring sports through February 2021," the league wrotein a statement posted to Twitter.

In July, the Ivy League was the first conference to announce the cancellation of its fall sports seasonas a result of the pandemic. Meanwhile, other conferences have run into multiple roadblocks in an attempt to continue their fall seasons.

Steve Gardner

Costco, which was one of the first retailers to mandate shoppers wear masks amid thecoronavirus pandemic, is updating its face mask policy. Starting Monday, the wholesale club says itwill require all members, guests and employees to weara face mask or face shield with the exception of children under 2.

"Members and guests must wear a face mask that covers their mouth and nose at all times," Costco said on itsCOVID-19 updates page. "Individuals who are unable to wear a face mask due to a medical condition must wear a face shield. ... Entry to Costco will be granted only to those wearing a face mask or face shield."

Costco's original policy went into effect in early Mayand didn't require shoppers with medical conditions to wear masks.

Kelly Tyko

SeaDream Yacht Club's SeaDream I, oneof the first cruise ships to ply through Caribbean waters since the pandemic began, ended its trip early after at least five passengers tested positive for COVID-19, officials said Thursday.

The SeaDream I is carrying 66 crew and more than 50 passengers, with the majority of passengers hailing from the U.S. according to Sue Bryant, who is aboard the ship and is a cruise editor for The Times and The Sunday Times in Britain.

She told The Associated Press that one passenger became sick on Wednesday and forced the ship to turn back to Barbados, where it had departed from on Saturday. However, the ship had yet to dock in Barbados as local authorities tested those on board. The captain announced that at least five passengers have tested positive, Bryant said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Continued here:
Coronavirus updates: US breaks record again with 153K new cases; states, cities are renewing restrictions; Pennsylvania nurses set to strike - Fall...

By Barbara Starr and Zachary Cohen, CNN

(CNN) -- US military commanders are anticipating that a formal order will be given by President Donald Trump as soon as this week to begin a further withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq before Trump leaves office on January 20, according to two US officials familiar.

The Pentagon has issued a notice to commanders known as a "warning order" to begin planning to drawdown the number of troops in Afghanistan to 2,500 troops and 2,500 in Iraq by Jan 15, the officials said. Currently there are approximately 4,500 US troops in Afghanistan and 3,000 troops in Iraq.

The Pentagon and White House did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.

While Monday's news indicates that the Pentagon appears ready to remove thousands more US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, it also suggests that Trump may fall short of fulfilling one of his core promises to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan before he leaves office.

On October 7 Trump tweeted: "We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!"

Then-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper sent a classified memo earlier this month to the White House asserting that it was the unanimous recommendation of the chain of command that the US not draw down its troop presence in Afghanistan any further until conditions were met, sources familiar with the memo tell CNN.

The assessment from the chain of command -- Esper, US Central Command leader Marine Gen. Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie and commander of NATO's mission in Afghanistan Gen. Austin Miller -- stated that the necessary conditions had not been met. Others agreed, sources tell CNN, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

The memo is believed to have been one of the main reasons why Trump fired Esper last week.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did not criticize Trump directly Monday while discussing the drawdown plans but warned of the potential ramifications of a rapid withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, saying it would "hurt our allies."

"We're playing a limited -- limited -- but important role in defending American national security and American interests against terrorists who would like nothing more than for the most powerful force for good in the world to simply pick up our ball and go home," he said in a speech from the Senate floor.

"There's no American who does not wish the war in Afghanistan against terrorists and their enablers had already been conclusively won," he said. "But that does not change the actual choice before us now. A rapid withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan now would hurt our allies and delight -- delight -- the people who wish us harm."

The decision to pull additional troops out of Iraq comes as the Trump administration has moved to reduce the US military's footprint there in recent months.

The US commander in the Middle East announced a drawdown of US troops in Iraq from 5,200 to 3,000 in September.

In March, US forces began pulling back from bases across Iraq, turning them over to Iraqi security partners. At the time, Pentagon officials insisted that the base hand-offs were part of a long-planned consolidation that reflected the success of the anti-ISIS fight -- not concerns over the ongoing rocket attacks by Iran-linked proxy militias.

US military officials have long stressed that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan should be conditions based, including the Taliban breaking its ties to al Qaeda and making progress in peace talks with the Afghan government, two conditions that have yet to be met.

But despite the lack of progress, the Trump administration has already substantially reduced US troops in the country by more than 50%, recently bringing the number of US military personnel there down to about 4,500, the lowest levels since the earliest days of the post 9/11 campaign.

Trump made bringing American troops home a theme of his reelection campaign but the future of US forces in Afghanistan has remained uncertain amid the mixed messages coming from the administration.

National security adviser Robert O'Brien has advocated for a more accelerated withdrawal from Afghanistan irrespective of conditions on the ground, something made more feasible by the installation of White House loyalists in senior defense posts.

Milley had pushed back on an earlier announcement from O'Brien suggesting an aggressive timeline for troop withdrawals that appeared to be irrespective of conditions.

"Robert O'Brien, or anyone else, can speculate as they see fit, I am not going to engage in speculation, I'm going to engage in the rigorous analysis of the situation based on the conditions and the plans that I'm aware of in my conversations with the President," Milley told NPR on October 11.

Sweeping changes at the Pentagon last week have put Trump loyalists in place and knowledgeable sources told CNN's Jake Tapper last week that the White House-directed purge at the Defense Department may have been motivated by the fact that former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and his team were pushing back on a premature withdrawal from Afghanistan that would be carried out before the required conditions on the ground were met.

Those changes included installing an ardent opponent of the US military's presence in Afghanistan, who once called for the use of lethal force against illegal immigrants and has made a litany of racist comments, as a senior adviser at the Pentagon.

A Pentagon spokesman confirmed Wednesday that retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor "will be serving as a Senior Advisor to the Acting Secretary of Defense. Mr. MacGregor's decades of military experience will be used to assist in the continued implementation of the President's national security priorities."

Macgregor has been a vocal opponent of the US military's mission in Afghanistan and has called for a total withdrawal of US troops and the American Embassy despite the continued presence of terrorist groups there.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky who is a strong advocate of withdrawing US troops welcomed the appointment.

"I am very pleased @realDonaldTrump asked my friend Col. Doug Macgregor to help quickly end the war in Afghanistan. This and other picks for Pentagon are about getting the right people who will finally help him stop our endless wars," Paul tweeted.

Trump also fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper last week in a tweet, replacing him with Christopher Miller, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

In one of his first moves as acting Defense Secretary, Miller sent a seemingly contradictory message to the force on Friday, saying the US must continue its battle against al Qaeda and the terrorist forces behind 9/11 while also saying it was time to bring troops home.

"This war isn't over," Miller wrote in his message. "We are on the verge of defeating al Qaida and it's associates, but we must avoid our past strategic error of failing to see the fight through to the finish."

"Indeed, this fight has been long, our sacrifices have been enormous, and many are weary of war -- I'm one of them -- but this is the critical phase in which we transition our efforts from a leadership to supporting role," he wrote in reference to the current US role of supporting counterterrorism campaigns such as the one in Afghanistan.

"All wars must end. Ending wars requires compromise and partnership. We met the challenge; we gave it our all. Now, it's time to come home," Miller added.

O'Brien and US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad are expected to discuss the troop drawdown plans during a meeting Monday, two State Department officials told CNN.

Khalilizad recently returned to Washington from a trip to Turkey where he met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlt avuolu and other Turkish officials. They discussed mutual concerns about the levels of violence in Afghanistan, according to a readout from the State Department.

State Department officials knew it was possible Trump could order an additional troop drawdown in Afghanistan but did not know that the Pentagon had sent this warning order, two State Department officials said.

Some State Department officials believed that because Trump did not order further troop withdraws before the election it was unlikely that there would be more during the rest of his administration.

But last month Khalilizad said the conditions will dictate further withdrawals.

"If conditions are right, we are committed to withdrawing. But if the conditions are not right, we don't have to withdraw," Khalilizad said in an NPR interview at the time.

This story has been updated with additional reporting Monday.

The-CNN-Wire & 2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

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US military anticipates Trump will issue order to plan for further troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Iraq - WDJT

In the wake of a Facebook ban and dimming electoral hopes for President Trump, the Stop the Steal movement is finding a home on smaller platforms and in-person rallies. A movement supporting Trumps false claims of election fraud and hoping to halt the ongoing vote-certification process, Stop the Steal groups are currently promoting pro-Trump rallies in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Georgia, and organizing through platforms like Parler and Discord.

President Trump has the votes, wrote Marjorie Taylor Greene, a QAnon supporter newly elected to Congress, on Parler. But the Democrats, Big Tech, and the Fake News Media are trying to STEAL this election. You and I cannot let that happen! This is the biggest VOTER FRAUD operation in American history...STOP THE STEAL. Greene has 16,000 followers on the app.

The Stop the Steal Facebook group, which launched on Wednesday, was filled with similar election misinformation about Democrats rigging the vote. It was organized by Republican operatives and had ties to the tea party, according to Mother Jones. The group grew to over 300,000 members in less than 48 hours only to be banned by Facebook once moderators caught on. Over that short period, the group became a central hub for election misinformation, leaving users to look for new places to organize in the wake of the ban.

Facebook and TikTok have also moved to block hashtags that were used to spread election conspiracy theories on Thursday, like #StoptheSteal. Twitter told The Verge that it was proactively monitoring them. Big Techs efforts to curb voting misinformation have led users to organize on different platforms. On YouTube, One American News Network (OANN) posted videos declaring that Trump won the election, which YouTube limited somewhat but did not block outright.

Organizers have found the most success on Parler, a social network designed for conservatives put off by moderation practices of the major platforms. On Thursday, there were 8,697 posts on Parler with the #StopTheSteal hashtag. Many of these posts also mentioned without evidence the silencing of conservatives on Facebook and Twitter. Videos of Stop the Steal protests got upwards of 2,000 votes (Parlers version of likes). The hashtag #VoterFraud had 18,426 posts, much of it focused on unfounded rumors regarding Democrats tampering with the vote.

The lax moderation standards have proved attractive for conservatives like Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rand Paul (R-KY) as well as former congressional candidate and right-wing conspiracist Laura Loomer who was previously banned on Twitter. The app, which launched in 2018, has added 4 million users this year, growing by 1 million in the past six weeks alone.

Parler differentiates itself from Facebook and Twitter in its refusal to moderate content the big tech platforms have banned, including hate speech and misinformation. The apps community guidelines prohibit unlawful acts but little else. A spokesperson for the app told The Verge that he believes users spreading misinformation will only damage their own reputation and does not believe in content moderation rules even for extreme content like Holocaust denial. I trust the system, he told The Verge, and dont worry about the outliers.

On Parler, the person with the handle @StopTheSteal shared unfounded rumors about voter fraud and urged followers to show up at Stop the Steal rallies across the United States. He also set up a Discord where users ranted about censorship on the big tech platforms, which does not actually exist, and promoted stop the count protests in Los Angeles and Norwalk, California.

At a rally at the capitol building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Trump supporters carried signs reading Stop the Steal and waved American flags. Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) joined the event, telling supporters, We want the ballots and the votes that are counted to be legal, to be valid. The comments insinuate this isnt the case although theres no evidence to support that viewpoint.

Some affiliated groups have been stoked by seasoned political operatives, although most have few firm ties to the Republican Party. Right Wing Watch reported this week that some Stop the Steal events trace back to a Roger Stone associate named Ali Alexander, who launched a similar but less successful campaign in 2018. Alexander said in a Periscope stream on Wednesday that he was organizing thousands and thousands and thousands of people to attend rallies in contested districts across the country.

Progressive groups seeking to encourage the continued counting of votes have also started to organize over social media. Count Every Vote rallies have been held in states like New York and Pennsylvania over the last few days. Larger coalitions, like Protect the Results, have not activated their over 150 groups into mobilization but said on Thursday that it remains vigilant.

As millions of votes are counted and with Joe Bidens lead in several key states growing, the Protect the Results coalition is announcing that it will not be activating the entire national mobilization network [Thursday], but remains ready to activate if necessary, the organization said in a statement on Thursday. While the coalition will not be activating its national network, some local organizers may still hold Count Every Vote events in their community.

The app has become particularly active during the week of the 2020 election, when Facebook and Twitter went to greater lengths to stamp out misinformation about the vote. SoCal Trump Train Events & Rallies, a Facebook group with 12,100 members, urged people to join them on Parler on Thursday in anticipation of getting shut down.

In a statement emailed to The Verge, a spokesperson for Discord said: We are aware of the server referenced. At this stage, it has not broken any of our community guidelines. More broadly, Discord is proactively monitoring our entire service for election mis- and dis-information that may lead to real-world harm. We take swift action when we become aware of these issues including banning users, servers, and when appropriate, contacting the proper authorities.

Update November 6th, 8:57PM ET: Article updated with statement from Discord.

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Stop the Steal spreads across the internet after infecting Facebook - The Verge

For immediate release

November 6, 2020Contact: U.S. Term LimitsPhone: (321) 428-4235Press@termlimits.com

Term Limits Tidal Wave as Record Number of Pledge Signers Elected to Congress

Washington, D.C. Even as ballot counting continues, a record number of term limits supporters have been elected to the U.S. Congress. U.S. Term Limits is proud to announce that at least 93 members of the incoming 117th Congress have taken the pledge to support a resolution to place term limits on Congress. With more votes still being counted and a few special elections on the horizon, that number is likely to increase.

Its a big deal. Nearly one hundred incoming Congress members have signed our term limits pledge promising to term limit Congress, says Stacey Selleck, Digital Director at U.S. Term Limits. Were optimistic about having bipartisan support on an amendment that focuses on the desperately needed election reform that term limits bring, Selleck added.

Lawmakers who signed the pledge were elected from nearly every state including many new signers in Michigan, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, and Tennessee. The states with the largest count of pledge signers are Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania and New York. Incumbent senators who support the term limits resolution include Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Pat Toomey, Dan Crenshaw, Rand Paul and incoming senator Tommy Tuberville.

The U.S. Term Limits congressional pledge is provided to every announced candidate for federal office. It reads, I pledge that as a member of Congress, I will cosponsor and vote for the U.S. Term Limits amendment of three (3) House terms and two (2) Senate terms and no longer limit. The U.S. Term Limits constitutional amendment has been introduced in both the U.S. Senate by Senator Ted Cruz (SJR1) and the U.S. House by Representative Francis Rooney (HJR20).

Having Congress propose the amendment is just one path to a term limits victory. U.S. Term Limits is also working towards getting the state legislatures to propose the amendment. Once proposed, regardless of method, it must be ratified by 38 states in order to become the next amendment to the Constitution.

Our goal is to fix a broken seniority system by invigorating Congress with a diversity of experiences, says Selleck. This is a sharp contrast to the current Congress that has expertise being adept at political shenanigans depriving the country of true representation, Selleck concluded.

According toa 2018 nationwide poll on term limits conducted by McLaughlin & Associates, term limits enjoy wide bipartisan support. McLaughlins analysis states, Support for term limits is broad and strong across all political, geographic and demographic groups. An overwhelming 82% of voters approve of a constitutional amendment that will place term limits on members of Congress.

To see a list of the incoming Congressional pledge signers, visit https://www.termlimits.com/117thCongressPledgeSigners.pdf.

###

______________________U.S. Term Limits is the largest grassroots term limits advocacy group in the country. We connect term limits supporters with their legislators and work to pass term limits on all elected officials, particularly on the U.S. Congress. Find out more attermlimits.org.

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Term Limits Tidal Wave as Record Number of Pledge Signers Elected to Congress - U.S. Term Limits

Joe Biden won key several battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin. USA TODAY

After the Associated Press named former Vice President Joe Biden president-elect of the United States Saturday morning, several notable Kentucky figures took to Twitter to express their reactions.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, congratulated Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris Saturday afternoon.

"Congratulations to President-elect @JoeBiden and Vice President-elect @KamalaHarris. We will work with the incoming administration, as we have the current White House, to improve lives and opportunities for every Kentuckian," Beshear wrote.

He added: "Now, the election is over and it is time to come together as Americans and as Kentuckians. We are in the fight of our lifetime against COVID-19 and we must unite to battle this virus that has killed 235,000 Americans including more than 1,500 Kentuckians."

Kentucky Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, a Democrat, congratulated Biden and Harris and noted the historical nature of this victory.

"Congratulations to President-elect@JoeBiden!" Coleman wrote. "America voted in record numbers, and this election is historically significant as Vice President-elect @KamalaHarris is the first woman and woman of color to win."

She also gave a shout-out to incoming First Lady Jill Biden: "I am also proud our incoming First Lady@DrBiden is a lifelong educator! In her, our children will have a strong advocate."

U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, a Democrat representing Kentucky's Third CongressionalDistrict, which includes Louisville, said the win is a "BFD."

"Congratulations to President-Elect Joe Biden," Yarmuth said. "Im looking forward to serving with you again. Thank you, Joe, and thank you, Beau."

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer tweeted his congratulations to both Biden and Harris Saturday afternoon.

"America is best when we purposefully align our many diverse viewpoints around hope, compassion and opportunity," Fischer wrote."Congratulations to @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris as they begin the good and noble work of unifying our great country."

State Rep. Charles Booker, a Louisville Democrat who narrowly lost the party's nomination for U.S. Senate this year, used a signature line of President Donald Trump from when he hosted NBC reality show, "The Apprentice."

'Youre fired. America," Booker wrote in a tweet.

From immigration to health care: How will a Biden presidency impact Kentucky?

Former Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Amy McGrath, who recently lost her bid to unseat Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, congratulated Biden, who gave a stump speech for her back in 2018 during her failed run against U.S. Rep. Andy Barr.

"Almost 10 months ago, I proudly endorsed Vice President @JoeBiden," McGrath wrote."Im proud to now call him President-Elect."

Sadiqa Reynolds, the head of the Louisville Urban League, tweeted out a photo of CNN calling the race for Biden with a chyron that reads "Joseph R. Biden Jr. Elected 46th President."

She then tweeted out a photo ofHarris, thefirstfemale,first BlackandfirstSouth Asian person to be named vice president-elect.

"The Voting Rights Act was 55 years ago," Reynolds wrote on the tweet of Harris' photo

Kentucky Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey, a Louisville Democrat, wrote: "I had no idea the emotions I would feel when it became final.

"Congratulations President-elect @JoeBidenand Vice President-elect @KamalaHarris!!!" he said.

Aaron Jordan,a leader of the grassroots group No Justice No PeaceLouisville that has been demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, an unarmed Black woman shot by police in her own apartment on March 13, wrote in a Facebook group for the group that "WE DID IT MFS."

"BLACK VOTES MATTER!!" SHT AT THIS POINT EVERY MF BODY VOTE MATTERS" Jordan wrote. "NO MORE TRUMP!!! OMG WE CAN WAKE UP FROM THIS NIGHTMARE!!!!

Hannah Drake, a Louisville activist, poet and author, wrote in a tweet that "clearly we have A LOT of work to do in this nation."

"But for the past four years to deal with the President and his racism. His tweets calling Africa a place with shithole countries. Knowing as a Black woman the President disregards my life.

"He emboldened so many racists," Drake wrote in a separate tweet."We had to live EVERY DAY listening reading and dealing w/ hate. And Covid. The lies that cost so many lives. You never knew from day to day what you would wake up to. Do we have work to do? YES! But my God I am glad that racist is out of OUR HOUSE!"

F. Bruce Williams, a seniorpastor atBates Memorial Baptist Church in Louisville, wrote that "history has been made."

Williams also looked ahead in his tweet to the Kentucky U.S. Senate race in 2022, when U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican, is up for reelection.

"(Charles Booker)you are going to make history too when we put you in the Senate," Williams wrote."Its time for change!!!"

State Rep. Kelly Flood, a Democrat from Lexington, posted a photo from CNN calling the race for Biden Saturday morning.

"#PresidentElectJoe #VicePresidentElectHarris November 7th, 2020, 11:30a! Character matters!" Flood wrote.

This story will update.

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Contact Ben Tobin at bjtobin@gannett.comand502-377-5675 or follow on Twitter @Ben__Tobin.

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How some Kentucky leaders are reacting to Joe Biden being named president-elect of the U.S. - Courier Journal