At the state level, Texas officials admitted to a record-high hospital on Tuesday, with more than 11,700 Kovid-19 patients across the state, while Georgia Gov. Brian Kempe said an additional 60-bed temporary hospital could open in the next few days.
In Los Angeles County, hospital admissions are at an all-time high and close to 600 months, up nearly 1,000,000% from just two months ago. With the surge in patients, oxygen tanks have been shut down in some hospitals.
“I think we’ve gone beyond the waves or the surge and this is a viral tsunami that we’re experiencing now,” said epidemiologist Dr. Said Robert Kim-Farley.
On Monday alone, more than 1.1 million people passed through airport security checkpoints across the country, the Transportation Security Administration said.
“The next few months are going to be awful,” said Dr. Jonathan Rainer, a professor of medicine at George Washington University. “We’re going to lose 1,000 people a day, maybe more, until February.” And after that, we’ll start to see some light. “
Ongoing vaccinations continue to provide hope, the process takes longer than many health officials hope, and months before the country begins to see a meaningful effect, experts say.
Vaccination slower than officials expect
But Trump administration officials told CNN that the vaccine distribution is on track and blamed delays in reporting data.
However, Biden-Harris transition Covid-19 advisory board member Dr. Celine Gounder said vaccination was “clearly not at an acceptable pace.” Moving forward.
“We’ve basically vaccinated two million people in two weeks, so that’s one million people a week,” Gounder said. “At that pace, it will take us a decade to vaccinate all Americans with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.”
Dr. Anthony Fawcett told CNN that the country’s current number of vaccinations is definitely not where “we want to be in late December.”
“Even if you undercut … how much of an undercount could it be? So that’s where we want to be, down,” said Fawcett, longtime director of national leukemia and infectious diseases. “I think we’re going to see an increase in momentum as soon as January arrives, which I … I hope we can catch up with the estimated momentum we talked about.”
Whatever happens quickly, the country could soon begin moving toward an “open season” of vaccinations, where the vaccine could be widely available to the American people, Fawcett said.
“When you get to the point where you can essentially tell anyone and vaccinate everyone who wants to be vaccinated, when you really turn around the dynamics of an epidemic outbreak,” he added.
UK variant found in Colorado
The case was confirmed in a 20-year-old man who is currently in solitary confinement and has no history of travel, officials said.
Colorado Govt. “We don’t know much about this new Covid-19 type, but scientists in the United Kingdom are warning the world that it is significantly more contagious,” Jared police said in a statement.
And according to one expert, the variety is “almost certainly” different.
“I think we will see the evidence in the coming days,” said Dr Atul Gawande, a member of the Biden-Harris Transition Covid-19 Advisory Board.
The Colorado man’s unfamiliar travel history means “this guy picked him up in the community,” Gavande said.
“Exactly how prevalent it is, that’s the real question,” he added. “If it’s being spread, how impressive is it?”
“We know it’s a more contagious mutant type and it’s a serious concern, if our hospitals and ICUs, in particular, are already being filled, if it’s starting to spread now.”
Variable cases have yet to be reported in at least 26 countries, according to a CNN report.
More than 20 lakh children have Kovid-19
Meanwhile, Covid-19 cases in children in the U.S. Just keep climbing.
A new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children’s Hospitals Association states that there were more than 178,000 new cases of Covid-19 in children in the week ended December 24.
Which brings the total number of child cases to more than two million. Children now account for about 12.4% of all Covid-19 cases in the U.S.
Between Dec. 10 and Dec. 24, the report said there was a 22% increase in children.
CNN’s Greg Vlace Les, Shelby Lynn Erdman, Andrea Diaz, Lindsay Benson, Raja Rajek and Jennifer Selva contributed to the report.
.
