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The United States recorded its highest daily death toll from coronavirus on Wednesday, as the number of people admitted to hospital with Covid surpassed 100,000 for the first time since the pandemic began.
According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, there were 2,804 new deaths on Wednesday, nearly the number of people killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The previous high was the 2,607 deaths recorded on April 15, at the beginning of the pandemic. (Johns Hopkins had previously reported 3,157 deaths on Wednesday, reportedly due to an error in one state.)
There were 200,070 new cases on Wednesday, just the second time new cases have surpassed 200,000. With the total number of cases at 14,061,616, the US registered its 14 million case on Thursday and experts predict that the death toll could reach almost 450,000 by the end of February.
Deaths, cases and hospitalizations showed a country sinking deeper into a crisis, with perhaps the worst yet to come, in part due to the late effects of Thanksgiving last week, when millions of Americans ignored the warnings to stay home and celebrate only with members of your family. House.
Across the United States, the surge has flooded hospitals and left nurses and other healthcare workers short-staffed and burned.
“The reality is that December and January and February are going to be tough times. In fact, I think it’s going to be the most difficult time in the history of public health in this nation, ”Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday.
Redfield said that about 90% of the nation’s hospitals were at capacity.
“We are at a very critical moment right now in order to maintain the resilience of our health system,” he said.
The dire total came as President-elect Joe Biden supported a $ 908 billion bipartisan coronavirus relief effort in Congress that would provide $ 300 a week in federal unemployment benefits and direct $ 160 billion to states and cities.
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Hospital admissions increased throughout November, setting new records almost every day. The American Ambulance Association referred to a 911 emergency call system “at a breaking point.”
Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas said there were no staffed ICU beds in the southwest of the state, while in New Mexico, coronavirus patients used 27% of hospital beds, leaving the state with just 16 intensive care beds available. .
In California alone, more than 8,000 people were being treated for coronavirus on Wednesday, after the state recorded a record number of hospitalizations for the fourth day in a row.
Health authorities had warned that the numbers could fluctuate sharply before and after Thanksgiving, as often occurs on holidays and weekends, when due to reporting delays, the numbers often drop and then rise dramatically. a few days later when state and local agencies catch up on the reservation.
The coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, Dr. Deborah Birx, urged Americans who had traveled over the last holiday weekend to behave as if they had the virus.
“If you are under the age of 40, you must assume that you were infected during the Thanksgiving period if you gathered beyond your immediate home. You will most likely have no symptoms; however, you are dangerous to others. “
April’s peak in cases and deaths was mostly concentrated in New York and New England, but the current spread of the virus is across the country and shows no signs of slowing down. In the last seven days alone, more than 1 million new cases have been registered, and in total more than 275,000 people have died.
Donald Trump’s few public appearances recently have been devoted to efforts to overturn the election results rather than deal with the coronavirus. Before the election, Trump said that the country was just around the corner and that the media would stop talking about Covid after the election.
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The mayor of Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the United States, with a population of 3.9 million, warned that it was approaching a “devastating tipping point” this week as officials introduced new guidance that bans the mix of households.
“Time to get down,” said Eric Garcetti. “It is time to cancel everything. And if it’s not essential, don’t do it. “
However, Los Angeles restrictions are far from being a total ban on activity, as retail businesses can remain open if they implement a set of protocols, and golf courses, tennis courts, and outdoor gyms can remain. open. Film and television production is also allowed to continue.
Los Angeles County, which includes Los Angeles and the surrounding areas, is home to 10 million people and has Recorded 421,881 infections so far. So far 7,782 people have died.
Some coronavirus relief programs approved by Congress will expire at the end of the year. Twelve million people will lose unemployment benefits, as Democrats and Republicans remain at a standstill over the size of a new aid package.
The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed a $ 3 trillion stimulus bill in May and has lobbied for a more than $ 2 trillion measure in recent weeks, but has reduced its demands to a bill. $ 908 billion, which Biden said Wednesday he would support.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, supported a $ 1 trillion bill in the summer, but dropped it after criticism from conservatives. Since then, McConnell has set his sights on a $ 550 billion bill, which has failed twice in the Senate.
Vice President Mike Pence, who has been leading the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic, will participate in a coronavirus response roundtable in Memphis on Thursday.
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