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NEW YORK: Six states reported a record number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, including Wisconsin, where officials on Tuesday issued a new order limiting the size of indoor public gatherings.
The increase in hospitalizations for COVID and new cases in some states coincides with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and several members of his White House staff testing positive for the new coronavirus. Trump’s doctors said Tuesday that he was not showing any acute symptoms after leaving Walter Reed Medical Center, where he was treated for three days.
The surge in hospitalizations reported Monday hit the Midwest states the hardest, with Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming reporting their highest numbers, according to a Reuters tally. Wisconsin has 782 hospitalized coronavirus patients, up from 433 two weeks ago.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services issued a directive that meetings will be limited to no more than 25 percent of the total occupancy of a room or building.
“We are in a crisis right now and we need to immediately change our behavior to save lives,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement. “We continue to see an increase in cases and many of our hospitals are overwhelmed, and I believe limiting indoor public gatherings will help slow the spread of this virus.”
NEW YORK HOTSPOTS
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced new restrictions as the state has seen new hot spots appear in and around New York City, the worst-hit metropolitan area in the United States. Among the “strong” clustered areas to be enforced by the governor’s new, stricter lockdown orders are parts of Brooklyn, Queens and parts of Rockland and Orange counties.
The new restrictions mainly affect houses of worship: those in hotspots must now operate at 25% of their capacity with a maximum of 10 people. Schools are closed in some areas.
Cuomo said that while the new restrictions are necessary, they are “only as good as they apply, and lack of enforcement has contributed to this problem.”
“There’s no way we weren’t seeing it coming,” Cuomo said.
The news was better further north: In Maine, the governor outlined the next steps for reopening.
Gov. Janet Mills said Maine was moving into stage four to restart the state’s economy, and said that starting Oct. 13, the state’s churches, restaurants and movie theaters could operate at 50 percent capacity.
In Washington, Republican Trump abruptly ended talks with Democrats on an economic stimulus bill to deliver pandemic aid to Americans before the November election, causing the stock market to crash.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump’s decision shows he is “putting himself first at the expense of the country” with cases on the rise in the United States. The total number of diagnosed infections is estimated at 7.5 million and more than 210,600 people have died in the pandemic, the highest in the world.
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