The United States has recorded its most deadly week of the coronavirus pandemic with a 44 percent increase in fatalities nationwide compared to last week.
In the past seven days, the US set new records in all three metrics that measure the pandemic’s severity, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
Deaths rose to 15,966 last week, new cases to 1.4million and hospitalizations from C0VID-19 now stand at an all-time high of 107,248 after setting another new record on Thursday.
A total of 2,768 Americans died yesterday after surging past 3,000 for the first time a day earlier. The number of infections yesterday reached 224,452.
The average number of deaths reported this week have now surpassed the peak reached at the height of the pandemic last April.
Up until last week, the peak was 2,611 deaths on April 30, when New York City was the epicenter of the nation’s outbreak.
According to their data, the COVID Tracking Project warns that if the pattern continues, the worst is still to come with the surge in cases leading to even more record-breaking daily deaths.
The last week marked a 27 percent increase in new weekly cases and an 8.8 percent increase in hospitalizations, placing further strain on the country’s medical system.
The US has now reported more then 15.6 million coronavirus cases and 292,141 fatalities.
Hospitalizations from C0VID-19 now stand at an all-time high of 107,248, setting another new record on Thursday. Hospitalizations in many Midwestern states are beginning to fall, but they are rising in 26 other states
The last week marked a 27 percent increase in new weekly cases and an 8.8 percent increase in hospitalizations, placing further strain on the country’s medical system. Pictured, staff members check up on a patient in the ICU unit in Texas
The US has recorded its most deadly week of the coronavirus pandemic with a 44 percent increase in fatalities nationwide compared to last week and Thursday marking the second day in a row that there have been more than 3,000 deaths
California reported almost 144,000 new cases this week, more than double the figure in the second highest state, Texas, which had 71.8k new cases. The last week marked a 27 percent increase in new weekly cases nationwide
In the past seven days, the US set new records in all three metrics that measure the pandemic’s severity, according to the COVID Tracking Project, as hospitalizations broke yet another record on Thursday rising over 107,000
While new cases have begun to dip in the Midwest, which originally led this third crest of the outbreak, the Northeast, South, and West are all seeing cases rising steeply.
Hospitalizations in many Midwestern states are also beginning to dip, but they are rising in 26 other states and remain the same in a further 12.
California, Georgia and states along the East coast experienced the worst growth in hospitalizations in the past week.
New Hampshire experienced a 49 percent increase, Delaware a 26 percent increase and Maine a 25 percent jump.
California also reported almost 144,000 new cases this week, more than double the figure in the second highest state, Texas, which had 71.8k new cases.
On Thursday, the US also broke the daily seven-day average for each of the three metrics, although new cases and deaths dropped since Wednesday.
The seven-day average for daily new cases is now 205,425 and it has climbed to 2,332 for daily deaths.
Again the COVID Tracking Project warned even higher rates of death could still be ahead, as only two states reported single-day record deaths on Thursday while their cases still continue to rise.
Deaths from COVID-19 can be a lagging factor following a spike in cases.
According the data from he Centers for Disease Control, the last seven days have seen the highest number of deaths per capita in North and South Dakota, Rhode Island and Iowa.
They all reported more than two deaths per 100,000 of population in the past week.
Hospitalizations broke over 107k on Thursday as there were more than 3,000 deaths for the second day in a row
The South is still seeing the highest climb in new daily cases, jumping 32 percent from last week
Rhode Island has now overtaken South Dakota with the highest average new daily cases per million people
There were ten states that reported over 10,000 new daily cases Thursday, including California with 29,6777 new cases, Texas with 12,458 new cases and Pennsylvania with 11,972 new cases.
California was the only state to report over 20,000.
Recording 948 new cases on Thursday, Rhode Island now has the highest per capita seven-day average in new daily cases at 1,150 cases per million people.
It is followed by North Dakota with 1,050 new daily cases per million people and Ohio with 1,039 new daily cases per million people.
According to the COVID Tracking project, Rhode Island is experiencing a troubling rise in cases among the Latino community.
More than 1 in 8 Latinx people have tested positive for COVID-19, compared to 1 in 31 white people in the state over the past week.
In South Dakota, Native Americans are also being most effected with 1 in 7 testing positive for COVID-19.
The rapid increase in coronavirus cases across the country is pushing medical centers to the breaking point and leaving staff members and public health officials burned out and plagued by tears and nightmares. Pictured, paramedics walk into the Goodwin House senior living community center in Arlington, Virginia, on Thursday
Testing across the country is increasing but cases are rising at a faster rate. Pictured, testing in Philadelphia on Thursday
It has now been revealed that one in three intensive care units (ICUs) across the country were more than 90 percent full last week. Medical workers transport a patient outside a hospital in New York on Tuesday as cases in the city rise
Hospitalizations from C0VID-19 now stand at an all-time high of 107,248, setting another new record on Thursday. Pictured, patient in the Covid-19 ward at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, earlier this week
The crisis across the country is pushing medical centers to the breaking point and leaving staff members and public health officials burned out and plagued by tears and nightmares.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released facility-level data earlier this week from more than 2,000 counties for the first time since the pandemic began, showing that hospital beds are now filling up much more quickly than expected.
It revealed that one in three intensive care units (ICUs) across the country were more than 90 percent full last week, according to a CNN analysis.
What’s more, at least 200 hospitals had no more beds available in any unit, which indicates that medical centers in all regions of the US may soon be at their breaking points.
According to CNN, coronavirus patients occupied 19 percent of inpatient beds and 37 percent of ICU beds during the first week of November.
By the first week of December, both these figures increased to 28 percent and 46 percent, respectively.
Another analysis, from the University of Minnesota’s COVID-19 Hospitalization Tracking Project, found that hospitals in 126 counties were at least 90 percent full, reported NPR.
The states with the most counties that hit this benchmark were Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Texas.
It also comes as new data from the Center for Disease Control revealed that true number of COVID-19 cases in the US could be much higher than what current figures show with only one in seven infections believed to have been reported
The latest CDC estimates show there was a possible 52 million COVID-19 infections in the US between February and September. Of the estimated infections, those aged between 18-49 accounted for the largest percentage of cases and symptomatic cases at 56 percent. In terms of hospitalizations, those aged 65 and above accounted for the largest percentage
The latest CDC estimates show there was a possible 52 million COVID-19 infections in the US between February and September – with about 45 million of those cases being symptomatic.
The estimates, which are created using statistical models, show that only one in seven cases have been counted.
Yet hope came on Thursday when a U.S. government advisory panel endorsed widespread use of Pfizer´s COVID-19 vaccine to help conquer the outbreak.
Depending on how fast the FDA signs off on the panel´s recommendation, shots could begin within days, inaugurating the biggest vaccination campaign in U.S. history.
‘This is a light at the end of the long tunnel of this pandemic,’ declared Dr. Sally Goza, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
In a 17-4 vote with one abstention, the government advisers concluded that the vaccine from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech appears safe and effective for emergency use in adults and teenagers 16 and over.
That endorsement came despite questions about allergic reactions in two people who received the vaccine earlier this week when Britain became the first country to begin dispensing the Pfizer-BioNTech shot.
While there are a number of remaining unknowns about the vaccine, in an emergency, ‘the question is whether you know enough’ to press ahead, said panel member Dr. Paul Offit of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
He concluded that the potential benefits outweigh the risks.
Pfizer has said it will have about 25 million doses of the two-shot vaccine for the U.S. by the end of December.
But the initial supplies will be reserved primarily for health care workers and nursing home residents, with other vulnerable groups next in line until ramped-up production enables shots to become widely available on demand – something that will probably not happen until the spring.
