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COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations related to the new coronavirus are increasing in the United States, as a third increase in the pandemic grips the worst-affected country in the world.
Nearly 79,000 new infections were reported Thursday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, bringing the national total to more than 8.86 million cases.
More than 500,000 new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in the past week, with 26 states reporting near-record numbers.
Tom Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee, the largest city in the US state of Wisconsin, told CNN on Thursday that the situation was “the worst that has ever existed.”
Earlier this week, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers also urged residents to stay home and follow public health guidelines to prevent the virus from spreading further.
We’ve heard story after story from people who wish they had taken this seriously and taken precautions sooner; They didn’t think it would happen to them, and then it happened. So please don’t risk it. Stay home, Wisconsin.
– Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) October 27, 2020
“We have heard story after story from people who wish they had taken this seriously and taken precautions earlier, didn’t think it would happen to them, and then it happened. So please don’t take chances, ”Evers tweeted on Tuesday.
The coronavirus has killed at least 227,000 people in the United States so far and left millions out of work.
Meanwhile, hospitalizations, a metric unaffected by the number of tests performed, are skyrocketing, reaching 45,045 on Wednesday, the highest since Aug. 14, the COVID Tracking Project reported.
The number of people hospitalized has increased by at least 30 percent in the last month.
Thirteen states, mainly in the western and midwestern United States, reported a record number of hospitalizations for COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to an analysis by the Reuters news agency.
Our daily update is published. The states reported 1 million tests, 79 thousand cases, 45 thousand currently hospitalized. The death toll from COVID-19 was 1,025 today. pic.twitter.com/uhQYQrcWH7
– The COVID Tracking Project (@ COVID19Tracking) October 28, 2020
Five days before the US presidential election, the pandemic, and the Trump administration’s handling of the virus, has dominated the campaign.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly dismissed the threat of the pandemic and downplayed the virus, claiming that the country is “turning around” despite the steady increase in cases.
This week, Trump said his opponents and the media would stop paying attention to the virus after the Nov. 3 vote, even as the nation’s top public health experts predicted a bleak winter in the United States.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden has taken aim at Trump’s handling of the pandemic, saying in his latest debate that “anyone who is responsible for so many deaths should not remain” as president.
‘Much pain’
Still, Trump has defended his decision to reopen the US economy, sometimes against the advice of health experts in his own administration, while many of his supporters in Michigan and elsewhere protested the efforts. blocking and mitigation.
The University of Washington Institute of Health forecast last month that the death toll from COVID-19 in the US could be more than 400,000 by the end of this year.
The White House coronavirus task force this week warned of a widespread and persistent spread of COVID-19 in the western half of the US, and called for aggressive mitigation measures to curb infections.
“We are on a very difficult trajectory. We are going in the wrong direction, ”said Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the task force and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci noted Wednesday that COVID-19 cases are on the rise in 47 states and patients are overwhelming hospitals across the country.
“If things don’t change, if they continue the way we are, there will be a lot of pain in this country regarding additional cases, hospitalizations and deaths,” Fauci said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday night. .
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