[ad_1]
WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) – The number of coronavirus cases in the United States increased by more than 100,000 for the third day in a row on Saturday (November 7), as Covid-19 continues its aggressive escalation across the country.
The day’s cases, accounted for by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg, were not fully counted and could increase. Infections reached a record 126,714 on Friday.
Deaths are on the rise: The nation counted 1,153 on Friday, the fourth day of this week with more than 1,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.
That was nearly 100 a day more than the previous week and 31 percent more than the average daily deaths in the first week of October. It is significantly lower than the first peak of the outbreak last spring, when several days approached or exceeded 2,500 daily deaths. The death toll in the United States is now 236,099.
Overall, hospitalizations remain above 1,000 and the statewide positive rate is over 2 percent.
President-elect Joe Biden’s victory marks a turning point in America’s response to the pandemic with his promise of an aggressive federal effort to contain a nationwide rise of the virus.
He said on Monday he would appoint a 12-member coronavirus task force, his first step in fulfilling one of his biggest campaign promises: mounting an effective response to the pandemic that has infected millions and damaged the United States economy.
“I will spare no effort, no or no commitment to reverse this pandemic,” Biden said Saturday, while delivering his victory speech in Wilmington, Delaware.
The panel will turn its plan to fight the coronavirus into an “action plan” that “will build on the foundations of science,” he added.
The task force will be co-chaired by former surgeon general Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner David Kessler and Yale University professor of public health Marcella Nunez-Smith, according to a person familiar with their plans. It will also include former Obama administration health adviser Ezekiel Emanuel.
The task force co-chairs are scheduled to report to Biden on Monday after the members are announced.
Dr. Kessler and Dr. Murthy were deeply involved in guiding Biden’s campaign plans to respond to the virus, briefing Mr. Biden regularly, helping develop policy, and helping senior officials organize safe campaign events. .
Biden’s plan calls for increased testing capacity, funding for businesses and schools to reopen safely, and finally a vaccine distributed fairly and free.
Meanwhile, New York reported 3,587 cases on Saturday, the second day of more than 3,000 and the most since early May in the tail of the deadly spring outbreak.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has focused on controlling “clumps” of the virus that have spread in parts of New York City and upstate, where the positive rate is twice that of the rest of the state.
On Friday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said New York City was “really threatened with a second wave.”
“There are several warning flags in New York,” Cuomo said in a statement Saturday. “As we approach the winter months, it will take the work of all New Yorkers to ensure that we do not return to where we were this spring.”
Biden’s victory marks a turning point in the US response to the coronavirus pandemic, promising a recently aggressive federal effort to contain a virus that is rising across the country in contrast to a president who has downplayed constantly the dangers of the outbreak and promised that it would disappear.
While the president-elect may start laying the groundwork, Biden will have to wait until he takes office on January 20 to put any of those plans into action.
His transition team has been working for months on how to coordinate federal agencies to execute the plans that Biden outlined months ago. The proposals include a national mask mandate, although Biden has acknowledged that it would be difficult to enforce except on federal property.
[ad_2]
