On Wednesday, the United States surpassed the 150,000 deaths recorded by Covid-19, a milestone that occurs when the daily number of deaths from coronavirus in the country is the highest since spring.
© Anthony Behar / SIPA USA / AP
Gerard J. Neufeld Funeral Home’s Ray Neufeld (l) and Omar Rodriguez (blue shrit) move a body in a cremation funeral chest to a transportation truck waiting to be taken to the north of the state for cremation, in the district Queens of New York, NY, May 11, 2020. With the funeral home located in the Elmhurst section of Queens, nicknamed the epicenter of the epicenter, 80% of those transported to Syracuse, New York, for cremation are considered victims of COVID-19. Ray Neufeld, brother of Joe Neufeld Sr., came out of retirement after 10 years to help his brother Joe Sr. during the overwhelming demand for funeral services during the Coronavirus pandemic. Ray Neufeld, brother of Joe Neufeld Sr., came out of retirement after 10 years to help his brother Joe Sr. during the overwhelming demand for funeral services during the Coronavirus pandemic. (Anthony Behar / Sipa USA) (Sipa via AP Images)
The first death in the United States was reported on February 29. The country reached 50,000 deaths 54 days later, on April 23, and 34 days later, on May 27, it crossed 100,000 deaths. It took 63 days to add another 50,000 to reach the 150,000 mark.
The country’s death toll from coronavirus was 150,676 as of Wednesday night, more than a fifth of the recorded deaths worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.
“I think the fact that we as a country have not been able to avoid this, we have not prioritized the prevention of those deaths, it is much more maddening. And, for me, it is frustration, it is sadness. And a decision to try to discover how we prevent the next 150,000, “Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Institute of Global Health, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
“I think we can, but we will really have to work to achieve it,” he added.
Some states are seeing their highest death tolls. California reported 197 Covid-related deaths in a single day on Wednesday, according to the state Department of Public Health. That total far exceeds the previous high of 159, recorded last week.
Florida reported a record 216 deaths.
Nationwide, the seven-day moving average of daily deaths rose to over 1,000 on Tuesday, the first time since June 2.
And in 29 states, the average number of daily deaths was at least 10% higher during the previous week, according to Johns Hopkins data.
Disease trends in the US are mixed: Deaths are on the rise and hospitalizations are at or near maximum levels, although new daily infections reported are slightly decreasing.
But health experts warned that the death rate would likely increase as it is now, as a consequence of a large increase in cases from previous weeks, especially in the south and west.
Infectious disease experts say the country is at a critical juncture as debates over how and whether to reopen schools for in-person learning are reverberating.
Case rates increased as companies reopened and distancing rules were relaxed in late spring, and those who desire more normality should soon be more disciplined now wearing masks, limiting outdoor dining and social gatherings, and closing bars, said Dr. Anthony Fauci.
“It will not fall spontaneously,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday in a call with several governors about the pandemic.
United States Should Restart, Johns Hopkins Experts Say
The United States needs to restart its response with policy actions at the federal, state and local levels to control the pandemic, academic reports from the Johns Hopkins University Health Security Center said in a report.
“Unlike many countries in the world, the United States is not currently underway to control this epidemic,” the report says. “It is time to restart.”
The report includes 10 recommendations including universal mask mandates, federal leadership to improve testing, and, in places where transmission rates are worsening, orders to stay home.
The report says federal, state, and local leaders should order the use of non-medical masks in public and limit large indoor gatherings.
States must stop high-risk activities and settings in areas that have a rising positivity test, but there are no signs of hospital crises or rising deaths. In areas where the situation is worst, orders to stay home should be reinstated, according to the report.
The report notes that improved testing is vital. The US response to the epidemic will be severely limited without a reliable and efficient testing system, according to the report.
One of the things the authors suggest to combat this is for the federal government to work with states and commercial laboratories to identify and overcome obstacles to obtaining rapid test results.
The report also offers recommendations on personal protective equipment, epidemiological data, funding research agendas, searching for contacts, identifying best practices to improve the public health response, and developing policies and practices to protect the group’s institutions.
Fauci told MSNBC that he did not think it was necessary to return to a full shutdown.
“I think psychologically it would be very difficult for people to accept,” he said. He advised that states and communities could “go back a bit” to “regain balance.” Then the next reopening should be done with more caution, he said.
Group: Follow these steps or watch the deaths soar
A leading medical education association had a similar urgent warning, saying deaths in the United States could soar “well into the hundreds of thousands.”
The Association of American Medical Colleges made that statement by publishing what it called a roadmap on how to contain the disease.
“Coordinated and decisive action is urgently needed to save lives, end the pandemic, restore the United States economy and return our lives to normal,” said Dr. David Skorton, AAMC President and CEO.
The AAMC’s warning said that “if the nation does not change its course, and soon, deaths in the United States could reach hundreds of thousands.”
He did not say when this count could be reached, nor did he forecast the number more accurately.
Her plan calls for addressing critical supply shortages, reopening schools safely, expanding health insurance, and developing a vaccine distribution protocol.
Urges the Trump administration to invoke the Defense Production Act, or determine other means, to resolve the critical shortage of Covid-19 test supplies and personal protective equipment; and set targets for storage of supplies.
It also suggests increasing Covid-19’s test capacity to more than 2 million per day and reducing response time for test results.
Other groups have released plans on how to end the pandemic in recent months, as states have used a set of approaches to try to mitigate the resurgent virus.
The AAMC says it represents all accredited medical schools in the United States and 17 in Canada, as well as 400 teaching hospitals.
FDA may issue emergency use authorization on vaccine soon
The US Food and Drug Administration could issue an emergency use authorization for a coronavirus vaccine in a matter of weeks, once a vaccine meets the efficacy requirements, said the director of the Evaluation Center e FDA Biological Research, which approves vaccines.
“We are ready to use emergency use authorization in an appropriate environment,” said Dr. Peter Marks during an online event called the Disease Control and Prevention Summit. An emergency authorization would authorize a coronavirus vaccine for expedited use.
The increased attention the agency is paying to coronavirus vaccine trials should speed up the process of granting emergency use authorization to a vaccine that crosses an efficacy limit in a clinical trial, Marks said.
Two manufacturers of two potential vaccines began advanced trials this week in the United States.
President Donald Trump said the United States has dramatically increased the production of materials needed for a vaccine, which could be approved “very, very soon.”
Marks was hopeful, but realistic, about developing vaccines.
“There are aspirational deadlines, and I think it’s really wonderful here, that people have aspirations to move forward as quickly as possible, but we all know that real life generally doesn’t go as well as our aspirations,” said Marks.
Decline numbers after mask requirements
Although some states continue to see sudden increases and setting records in the number of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, Tuesday’s total new cases across the country stood at 61,660, slightly lower than at this point last week.
Kentucky, a state among at least 41 requiring masks, reported 532 new cases Tuesday and a positivity rate of 5.08%, which fell for the first time in four days, Gov. Andy Beshear said.
“Again, it is too early to draw conclusions, but I hope I have said, I hope we are starting to see, because the time frame is right, where the facial coverage requirement is starting to come in and help,” Beshear added.
In Florida, where new daily cases are declining, state officials reported a record daily death for the second consecutive day. The state reported 216 deaths Wednesday, beating the previous high of 186 reported the day before.
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