|
|
|
Coronavirus
deaths
are
rising
again in
the US,
as
feared
By
LISA
MARIE
PANE
and MIKE
STOBBE
apnews.com
BOISE,
Idaho -
Deaths
per day
from the
coronavirus
in the
U.S. are
on the
rise
again,
just as
health
experts
had
feared,
and
cases
are
climbing
in
practically
every
state,
despite
assurances
from
President
Donald
Trump
over the
weekend
that
“we’re
rounding
the
turn,
we’re
doing
great.”
With
Election
Day just
over a
week
away,
average
deaths
per day
across
the
country
are up
10% over
the past
two
weeks,
from 721
to
nearly
794 as
of
Sunday,
according
to data
from
Johns
Hopkins
University.
Newly
confirmed
infections
per day
are
rising
in 47
states,
and
deaths
are up
in 34.
Health
experts
had
warned
that it
was only
a matter
of time
before
deaths
turned
upward,
given
the
record-breaking
surge in
cases
engulfing
the
country.
Deaths
are a
lagging
indicator
— that
is, it
generally
takes a
few
weeks
for
people
to
sicken
and die
from the
coronavirus.
Michael
Osterholm,
a
University
of
Minnesota
expert
on
infectious
diseases
who
warned
over the
summer
of a
fall
surge,
said
what’s
happening
now is a
confluence
of three
factors:
“pandemic
fatigue”
among
people
who are
weary of
hunkering
down and
are
venturing
out
more;
“pandemic
anger”
among
those
are
don’t
believe
the
scourge
is a
real
threat;
and cold
weather,
which is
forcing
more
Americans
indoors,
where
the
virus
can
spread
more
easily.
“When
you put
those
three
together,
we
shouldn’t
be
surprised
what
we’re
seeing,”
Osterholm
said.
The
virus is
blamed
for more
than 8.6
million
confirmed
infections
and over
225,000
deaths
in the
U.S.,
the
highest
such
totals
in the
world.
Deaths
are
still
well
below
the U.S.
peak of
over
2,200
per day
in late
April.
But
experts
are
warning
of a
grim
fall and
winter,
with a
widely
cited
model
from the
University
of
Washington
projecting
about
386,000
dead by
Feb. 1.
A
vaccine
is
unlikely
to
become
widely
available
until
mid-2021.
The
seven-day
rolling
average
for
daily
new
cases
hit a
record
high on
Sunday
of
68,767,
according
to Johns
Hopkins,
eclipsing
the
previous
mark of
67,293,
set in
mid-July.
The U.S.
recorded
more
than
80,000
new
cases on
both
Friday
and
Saturday
— the
highest
marks
ever —
though
testing
has
expanded
dramatically
over the
course
of the
outbreak,
making
direct
comparisons
problematic.
The
true
number
of
infections
is
thought
to be
far
higher
because
many
Americans
have not
been
tested,
and
studies
suggest
people
can be
infected
without
feeling
sick.
On
Wall
Street,
stocks
had
their
worst
day in
more
than a
month,
amid the
surging
caseload
and
mounting
doubts
that
Washington
will
come
through
with
more
relief
for the
economy
before
Election
Day. The
S&P 500
slid
1.9%
Monday,
while
the Dow
Jones
Industrial
Average
shed 650
points,
or 2.3%.
On
Monday,
the
White
House
coronavirus
response
coordinator
spent
the day
looking
around
North
Dakota’s
capital
city and
proclaimed
the
COVID-19
protocols
to be
the
worst
she’s
seen in
her
travels
around
the
country.
Dr.
Deborah
Birx,
whose
tour has
taken
her to
nearly
40
states,
said she
found
the
absence
of face
coverings
and the
lack of
social
distancing
in
Bismarck
“deeply
unfortunate”
and a
danger.
“Over
the last
24 hours
as we
were
here and
we were
in your
grocery
stores
and in
your
restaurants
and
frankly
even in
your
hotels,
this is
the
least
use of
masks
that we
have we
seen in
retail
establishments
of any
place we
have
been,”
Birx
said.
“And we
find
that
deeply
unfortunate
because
you
don’t
know
who’s
infected
and you
don’t
know if
you’re
infected
yourself.”
In
the
Texas
border
city of
El Paso,
authorities
instructed
people
to stay
home for
two
weeks
and
imposed
a
10-p.m.-to-5-a.m.
curfew
because
of a
surge
that has
overwhelmed
hospitals.
The
state is
converting
part of
the
city’s
civic
center
into a
hospital.
“We
are in a
crisis
stage,”
El Paso
County
Judge
Ricardo
Samaniego,
the
county’s
top
elected
official,
as he
issued
the
stay-at-home
order
over the
weekend.
On
Monday,
the
county
reported
a record
high in
daily
cases,
with
1,443,
and 853
patients
hospitalized
because
of the
virus,
up from
786 a
day
earlier.
The
state
has
provided
over 900
medical
personnel
to El
Paso,
some of
whom
will
staff
the
convention
center
site.
Just
last
week,
Trump
during
the last
presidential
debate
downplayed
the
virus’
effect
in the
Lone
Star
State,
saying:
“There
was a
very big
spike in
Texas,
it’s now
gone.”
Trump
said
repeatedly
over the
weekend
that the
country
is
“rounding
the
turn.”
His
remarks
came
amid
another
outbreak
in the
White
House
inner
circle.
Several
close
aides to
Vice
President
Mike
Pence
tested
positive,
including
his
chief of
staff.
In
Idaho,
where
large
numbers
of
residents
resist
wearing
a mask,
Republican
Gov.
Brad
Little
on
Monday
ordered
a return
to some
restrictions
to slow
the
spread
of the
virus as
rising
cases
put a
strain
on the
hospital
system.
Little’s
directive
limits
indoor
gatherings
to 50
people,
urges
businesses
to
encourage
employees
to work
from
home,
among
other
steps.
Idaho’s
positivity
test
rate is
fourth-worst
in the
nation.
St.
Luke’s,
with
hospitals
in
southwestern
and
central
Idaho,
is
reporting
that 20%
of
hospitalized
patients
are
suffering
from
COVID-19.
Its
hospital
in Twin
Falls
has
postponed
elective
surgeries
and are
sending
children
in need
of
medical
care to
Boise,
about
125
miles
away.
Primary
Health
Medical
Group,
the
largest
independent
medical
group in
Idaho,
has had
to close
two of
its 19
urgent
care
clinics
in
southwestern
Idaho
because
of sick
or
quarantined
staff.
The
clinics
are a
buffer
keeping
hospital
emergency
rooms in
the
region
from
getting
clogged
with
patients
not
needing
emergency-level
care.
Oklahoma
is one
of the
states
consistently
breaking
records
for new
cases,
and the
strain
is being
felt in
hospitals.
Bed
space is
running
out, and
an
equally
daunting
problem
is a
shortage
of
nursing
staff.
Dr.
Sam
Ratermann,
director
of the
hospitalist
program
at
INTEGRIS
Grove
Hospital
in
Grove,
Oklahoma,
said
patients
are
being
transferred
from
“hospital
to
hospital
across
the
state”
for lack
of beds.
“Even
when we
have
open ICU
beds
across
the
state,
we don’t
have
staff to
fill
them,”
Ratermann
said.
“There’s
going to
be a
point
where
there’s
no beds
and we
can’t
even
care for
our
local
citizens.”
The
University
of
Minnesota’s
Osterholm
has been
predicting
the
darkest
days
will be
in the
weeks or
months
ahead.
He said
he
expects
increased
competition
for
drugs
and
shortages
of
hospital
specialists,
N95
masks
and
other
protective
gear.
A
strong
national
response
plan was
needed,
along
with
consistent
messaging
that
emphasized
mask
wearing
and
other
preventive
measures,
Osterholm
said.
“But
our
response
has
been...
I don’t
know
what our
response
has
been,”
he said.
|
|
|
|
|
|