On Friday, more than 195,500 new infections were reported – many people hadn’t heard of just weeks ago. The highest single-day cases during the country’s summer surge in July were just over 77,100.
The spread is ‘faster’ and ‘wider’ than before
Despite the alarming numbers, multiple experts have predicted this week that things will get worse before they get better.
“It’s faster. It’s wider. And what worries me could be longer.”
The Louisiana Department of Health announced that about 90% of the new cases reported are spread across the community, while 10% of them are in aggregation. Colorado officials said the new modeling report found that one in every 49 residents of the state has been infected with covid – 19 – the virus that has spread there ever since it arrived. And Washington in Washington State, Govt. “The state is on fire,” Jay Insley said, adding that the virus is a “rag” in its communities.
Those announcements come ahead of Thanksgiving week, when health officials fear that many Americans would prefer to visit family and friends and further the spread of the virus – often, unknowingly.
“The CDC and others estimate that more than 50% of all infections are transmitted from people who do not show symptoms,” the agency said on its website.
“This means that at least half of the new infections come from people who are unlikely to be infected for others.”
What does this mean for the country
The growing number has brought some hospital systems to their knees and called on state leaders to take steps to stop the spread.
At least 24 hospital leaders have warned the American Hospitals Association that they are experiencing staff shortages, said Nancy Foster, vice president of the Association for Quality and Patient Safety Policy. That concern has been raised in states including Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and North and South Dakota, all of which have recently seen an outbreak of the infection, he added.
Foster said in a statement to CNN that it is difficult to overcome the shortage when health care workers are being pulled out of the workforce “experiencing reasonably significant emotional and physical toll due to the impact of the epidemic.”
And in rural parts of the country, the challenge is often greater.
Of the approximately 2,000 rural hospitals, about 1,700 have 50 beds or less, and 1,300 have 25 beds or less, according to Tom Morris, associate administrator of rural health policy at the federal government’s health resources and services administration.
“We’re not talking about big facilities. We’re not talking about much of the capacity of the ICU,” the National Institutes of Health said during a rural health seminar. “In many of these hospitals they offer one. The ICU of one of the two beds.”
Responding to the crisis, multiple governors this week announced new measures to tackle the growing infection and relieve strained hospital systems.
There is also good news
This includes wearing a mask, keeping a social distance, avoiding crowds, and washing your hands regularly. The University of Health Metrics and Evaluation Institute in Washington estimated this week that about 65,000 lives could be saved by March 1 if 95% of Americans wear masks.
The CDC and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment looked at the case trends in the months before and after the order and found that people in 8 public counties are required to wear masks in public, a reduction of%. Cases. Meanwhile, in commandless counties, the disease continued to grow, with a net increase in almost 100% of cases.
And soon, there could be more reinforcements in the fight against the Covid-19.
The application for the EU is “encouraging”, while the American Society of Infectious Diseases stressed on Friday that a transparent review of Pfizer’s data is still needed.
And if the vaccine is given the green light, “clinical trials and data collection must continue,” said IDSA President Dr. Barbara Alexander said in a statement.
“Measures to wear masks, wash hands frequently, maintain physical distance and limit the size of gatherings will be crucial,” the statement said. “Finally, in addition to the campaign to increase vaccine confidence, new federal funding must be provided for comprehensive, equitable and equitable vaccine distribution.”
CNN’s Michael Nedelman, Andy Rose, Jane Christensen, Jacqueline Howard, Maggie Fox and Holly Silverman contributed to the report.
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