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WASHINGTON: The United States crossed an ominous new threshold of 3,000 lives lost to COVID-19 in a single day on Wednesday (Dec. 9), while public health officials stepped up preparations for a landmark vaccine campaign ahead of the regulatory approval imminent.
The steady move toward a vaccine launch on the eve of a critical review by top US medical experts comes as COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations rose alarmingly, putting pressure on healthcare systems in some hot spots of the pandemic to the breaking point.
Ten mostly rural counties scattered across California reported no beds available in intensive care units on Wednesday, according to state health data analyzed by Reuters.
In the agricultural heart of California’s Central Valley, COVID-19 admissions have completely overwhelmed some individual hospitals. In Fresno County, home to 1 million people, only seven ICU beds were left empty Wednesday.
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The number of hospitalized COVID patients nationwide grew to a new all-time high of 105,805 on Wednesday night, 18 percent more than in the previous two weeks.
The United States has also documented an average of 2,259 deaths and 205,661 new infections each day over the past week, a toll that US health officials warn is likely to accelerate in the coming months before a vaccine becomes widely available. for the public.
At least 3,112 American patients died on Wednesday alone, according to a Reuters tally of state-by-state data, surpassing the previous December 3 record of 2,861 deaths and marking the first time the virus has claimed 3,000 or more American lives in a just day. .
To date, the highly contagious respiratory disease has killed more than 289,000 Americans and about 15 million are known to have been infected since January.
Medical experts have said the crisis will only get worse in the coming weeks amid colder weather, especially if Americans continue to ignore warnings to avoid unnecessary travel and large gatherings during the holidays.
In addition to the monumental human cost, the pandemic has wreaked havoc on the economy, forcing millions out of work while public health authorities imposed radical restrictions on social and economic life in an effort to quell the contagion.
READ: Rich countries have bought too many COVID-19 vaccines: Amnesty International
Congress, meanwhile, fought to end a months-long political stalemate on economic aid.
The Democrat-controlled US House of Representatives was going to vote on a week-long interim funding bill to buy more time to agree on a larger aid package, as a bipartisan group gave know the details of your proposal.
The Republican leader of the United States Senate, Mitch McConnell, told reporters that lawmakers were still “looking for a way forward” with the help of COVID-19, and then they went to the Senate to criticize Democratic leaders for rejecting. two Republican bids earlier this week.
VACCINES ON THE WAY
Offering a new ray of hope, some officials said vaccines could begin as soon as this weekend, and states have stepped up plans for what is likely to be a distribution effort of unprecedented dimensions.
“I cannot think of a government operation that has started that is more difficult and intricate than what governments will be asked of here,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a briefing on Wednesday.
A panel of independent medical experts will meet Thursday to decide whether to recommend that a vaccine from Pfizer and German partner BioNTech receive emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration.
In a sign that approval could come quickly, documents released by the FDA Tuesday in preparation for the advisory review did not raise any new red flags about the safety or efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine.
FDA approval could come on Friday or Saturday, followed by the first American injections on Sunday or Monday, Moncef Slaoui, senior adviser to the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine development program, told Fox News.
Britain became the first Western nation to begin mass inoculations with the Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday. Canada approved the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine on Wednesday after an expedited review process.
READ: Canada approves Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, first injections expected next week
The United States is in dire need of a new mechanism to combat the pandemic, as many Americans have refused to follow the guidelines for wearing face shields and keeping distance from people beyond their own homes.
Experts and officials expect another surge in infections and hospitalizations after the year-end meetings.
World Health Organization Director for the Americas Carissa Etienne said Wednesday that jumps in weekly COVID-19 cases in the United States and Canada were particularly concerning as winter approached.
The expected post-holiday increase would be in full effect by the time President-elect Joe Biden succeeds President Donald Trump on January 20.
Despite the fact that Trump has refused to admit defeat in his bid for a second term and is attempting to reverse the November 3 election, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar promised on CNN to ensure a “complete career transition. , cooperative “in pandemic matters. .
Azar also told CBS This Morning that he expected the vaccines to reach the general public in February, March and April, with a sufficient supply of vaccines “for all Americans” during the second quarter of next year.
Still, a sizable percentage of the American population has expressed skepticism about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, creating an additional challenge.
Biden set a goal of vaccinating 100 million people, nearly a third of the U.S. population, within the first 100 days of his administration or before April 29.
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