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Mark Winkelman (C) helps a North Dakota family register on a tablet for self-administered COVID-19 saliva tests at a test site inside the former Thomas Edison Elementary School, as the coronavirus disease outbreak ( COVID-19) continues in Moorhead, Minnesota, USA, October 25, 2020. REUTERS / Bing Guan
The United States has seen the highest number of new COVID-19 cases in the past two days, keeping the pandemic a major issue in the elections as Vice President Mike Pence travels the country to campaign despite the fact that his close associates tested positive.
The United States reported 79,852 new infections on Saturday, close to the previous day’s record of 84,244 new cases. Hospitalizations are also on the rise, reaching a two-month high and deaths are trending upward, according to a Reuters tally.
So far in October, 29 states have set records for increases in new cases, including five considered key in the November 3 presidential election: Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Cases in the Midwest set a new record Saturday and the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in that region hit an all-time high for the ninth day in a row.
Hospitals are overloaded in several states, including North Dakota, which is hit the hardest by recent cases per capita, according to a Reuters analysis.
The city of El Paso in Texas is asking residents to stay home for the next two weeks and El Paso County closed its parks and recreational facilities for 14 days.
Additionally, an El Paso County judge ordered a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew Sunday night due to the COVID crisis. The curfew order went into effect immediately, but does not apply to essential workers or people who travel.
Over the past three weeks, the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the El Paso area has tripled to a record 786, according to state data.
“If we continue with this trend, we run the risk of damaging effects on our entire health system,” said the city’s public health director, Angela Mora, in a statement.
“For the sake of the hospitalized and the frontline healthcare workers who work tirelessly every day to care for them, we ask that you stay home for two weeks and eliminate your interactions with people outside your home until we can flatten the curve”.
On Saturday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott asked the federal government to allow the use of an army medical center at Fort Bliss by coronavirus-free patients to ease the burden on hospitals.
On Sunday, Abbott said state emergency management officials will open an alternate care site this week, initially with 50 beds, at the El Paso Center for the Performing Arts and Convention.
New outbreak in the White House
Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, tested positive Saturday, as did many other top aides. Despite the outbreak, the White House said the vice president would go ahead with the campaign, visiting North Carolina on Sunday and Minnesota on Monday.
The new infections offered a reminder of the way that Trump, who was hospitalized for three nights this month after contracting COVID-19, and those around him have downplayed advice from public health experts to wear masks and observe guidelines. of social distancing to stop COVID-19. transmission.
When asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” why Pence was not following the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines for quarantining himself for 14 days after said exposure, Meadows it cited the vice president’s status on Sunday as “essential personnel.”
The latest outbreak follows what health experts described as a wide-spread event at the White House on Sept. 26, where President Donald Trump announced his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
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