Covid 19 coronavirus: US registers one million new cases in a week

A worrying upward trend in the United States has seen more than 11 million cases of the coronavirus reported in the country, with the most recent million arriving in less than a week.

The Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker hit 11 million on Sunday (US time). It had exceeded 10 million cases on November 9.

It took the United States 300 days to reach the 11 million mark since the first case was diagnosed in Washington state on January 20.

Covid-19 is spreading faster in the US than it has at any time since the pandemic began.

Deaths are also on the rise, though not at the record numbers reached in the spring. The seven-day moving average of new daily deaths was more than 1080 as of Saturday, more than 30 percent more than two weeks earlier.

Covid-19 has killed more than 246,000 people in the US, according to Johns Hopkins.

Worldwide, more than 54 million cases of coronavirus have been reported with more than 1.3 million deaths. The United States has about 4 percent of the world’s population, but about a fifth of all reported cases.

According to Reuters, the United States could report 8 to 13 million more cases of COVID-19 between now and the inauguration.

Joe Biden’s coronavirus advisor warned that the US healthcare system will collapse and Covid-19 patients could die in waiting rooms if cases continue to rise.

Dr Michael Osterholm, who has advocated for a New Zealand-style lockdown, said on NBC’s Meet the Press that the United States is in a “very dangerous period” and that the health care system is at a “breaking point. inflection”.

“My worst fear is what we saw happen in other countries where people died in the streets. People were literally dying in the emergency room waiting room after spending 10 hours waiting to be seen, “Osterholm said.

“I hope that is not how we finally decide to reduce our risk … I think it is healthcare systems that break down, literally break down, which will unfortunately lead us to a sense of reality of what we should do in the short term. term”. finished.”

Meanwhile, New York has reported more than 45,700 new coronavirus cases in the past 14 days.

The state reports an average of 4163 new cases per day for the past seven days.

That’s almost double the rate 11 days ago and quadruple the situation at the end of September.

In Washington, Governor Jay Inslee has announced new restrictions on businesses and social gatherings for the next four weeks as part of the state’s efforts to curb the spread of the virus.

Starting at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, a large number of businesses must shut down their indoor services, including fitness facilities and gyms, bowling alleys, and movie theaters.

Retail stores, including grocery stores, must limit interior capacity to 25 percent. Indoor social gatherings with people from more than one household are also prohibited, unless attendees have been quarantined for 14 days prior to the meeting or tested negative for Covid-19 and quarantined for seven. days.

In West Virginia, another weekly record was set for the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, with even one day to count.

Health statistics released Sunday show that 3,718 positive cases were reported statewide from November 9 through Saturday. That six-day mark broke the record of 2,696 cases set for the seven days of the previous week.

The state set three daily highs for confirmed cases last week, including a record 821 cases on Friday. Daily records have been set seven times in the last three weeks. No daily records had been set in the six weeks prior to that, an indication of the recent rise in the virus.

Gov. Jim Justice announced Friday that a face covering will be required at all times in businesses and other interior spaces. It first issued an order for indoor masks in July that required no masks if social distancing was possible. The new mandate requires masks at all times, except when eating or drinking.