On Wednesday, “states reported 3,054 deaths from COVID-19—the highest single-day total yet.” The death toll is now at its worst with hope in sight.

+ “In Mitchell, the medical emergency helicopter, once a rare occurrence, now comes nearly every day, ferrying the growing number of people desperately ill with covid-19 to a hospital that might be able to save them. Sirens echoing through the empty streets of New York marked the pandemic’s first phase. Swirling blades of helicopters on the American plains is the soundtrack of a deadly fall.” WaPo: Covid-19 becomes personal in a South Dakota town as neighbors die and the town debates a mask mandate. (3,000 a day and we’re still debating about masks.)

+ It’s good to be the king. It’s almost as good being friends with the king. NYT: Trump and Friends Got Coronavirus Care Many Others Couldn’t. “If it wasn’t me, I wouldn’t have been put in a hospital frankly,” Mr. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, told WABC radio in New York. “Sometimes when you’re a celebrity, they’re worried if something happens to you they’re going to examine it more carefully, and do everything right.” When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab ‘em by the prescription.