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NEW YORK: As events in Washington on Wednesday (January 6) captured the nation’s attention, the raging COVID-19 pandemic claimed its largest death toll in the United States to date, killing more. than 4,000 people in a single day, according to a Reuters tally.
COVID-19 hospitalizations totaled 132,051, marking a dismal record for the fourth day in a row through Wednesday night, a Reuters analysis of public health data showed.
As thousands of mostly unmasked President Donald Trump supporters besieged the U.S. Capitol, daily reported cases of the new coronavirus once again surpassed the 250,000 mark, bringing the total case count to 21. ,2 millions.
READ: ‘That’s for real’: Fauci rejects Trump’s claim that US COVID-19 deaths were over-counted
The deadly virus that is emerging in most of the nation is hitting parts of California more severely, including the greater Los Angeles area, pushing hospitals to the limit.
Earlier this week, public health officials ordered elective surgeries suspended for at least three weeks in more than a dozen southern and central counties of the state.
Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania recorded their highest death toll in a single day on Wednesday.
The latest increase is compounded by the rapid spread of a highly communicable new variant of COVID-19 that was first detected in the UK in December and has now spread to at least seven US states, including New. York, Colorado and California.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced Thursday the first confirmed case of the variant in Dauphin County, where an individual tested positive “after a known international exposure.”
Healthcare staff surround a patient who died inside a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) unit at the United Memorial Medical Center as the United States approaches 300,000 deaths from COVID-19, in Houston, Texas, on December 12, 2020 (Photo: REUTERS / Callaghan) O’Hare)
READ: Most US COVID-19 Vaccines Left Inactive As New York, Florida Moves To Penalize Hospitals
The variant was also identified in Texas on Thursday, hired by a resident, with no travel history, of Harris County, which includes the greater Houston area, the Texas Department of State Health Services said.
With increasing pressure on widespread healthcare systems across the country, federal and local officials announced steps to accelerate the slow pace of inoculating eligible residents with two licensed coronavirus vaccines.
On Wednesday, top health officials announced plans to begin distributing COVID-19 vaccines through pharmacies across the country earlier than expected this week as states have struggled to manage the supplies they have been assigned.
The lack of a federal plan for the crucial final step of bringing vaccines to tens of millions of guns has left state and local officials in charge of the monumental effort, creating a mosaic of different plans across the country.
The partnership with 19 drug store chains will eventually allow the Operation Warp Speed program to deliver vaccines to up to 40,000 locations across the country, US officials said at a news conference Wednesday.
US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar also said states should not allow recommendations to prioritize certain groups, such as healthcare workers, to slow the pace of vaccines.
Azar urged states not to keep vaccines in freezers for long to distribute to priority workers and has encouraged governors to sidestep government recommendations on who should get vaccinated first if it can speed up the inoculation of others.
If states are struggling to distribute the vaccine, “then by all means you want to open up to people 70 and older or 65 and older,” he said.
People wait in line at a CityMD urgent care center to be tested for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Bronx borough of New York City, New York, on January 6, 2021 ( Phoot: REUTERS / David ‘Dee’ Delgado). )
READ: US Reports More Serious Allergic Reactions to COVID-19 Vaccines, Says Reactions Still ‘Extremely Rare’
Who should be inoculated has been the subject of another discussion between New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and state Governor Andrew Cuomo.
On Thursday, de Blasio lashed out at Cuomo for shutting down the mayor’s plan to begin vaccinating some residents of group 1b, outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which includes people 75 and older, as well as essential frontline workers.
De Blasio argued that the city’s public hospitals have “thousands of spaces available” due in part to a substantial contingent of healthcare workers who refused to be vaccinated. Cuomo, who has lamented the slow supply of vaccines from the federal government, has argued that all healthcare workers should get vaccinated before moving to the next category.
In neighboring New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday that vaccines are being offered to people in category 1b, including law enforcement and firefighters, as well as other essential frontline workers.
Murphy said he anticipated there will be fluidity in vaccines, with multiple groups offered at once to make sure no vaccine expires and goes to waste.
“It is not necessary to vaccinate everyone in one phase before moving on to the next,” said Judy Persichilli, state health commissioner, at a news conference with the governor.
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