“We’re also worried that sometime soon we’ll have a really hard time finding the place and staff to take care of all the sick patients coming in with Covid-19 who really need our help,” the doctor said. Nicole Van Groningen of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Friday’s gloomy situation also means that the nation has also recorded by far the largest number of Covid-19 infections. It’s twice what India – the country with the second largest number of cases – and three times what Brazil – the third country on the streak – reported.
But the worst may not be over yet: Experts fear that in the coming weeks – after travel and gatherings – the United States may see another increase in cases that could also lead to a spike in hospitalizations and deaths.
Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN earlier this week that the country had seen an increase that “just got out … out of control”, and that the coming weeks could be worse.
“Once you reach large numbers of people for a dinner inside, and there is poor ventilation and circulation, then you will face a problem,” he said. “This is what we are concerned about – that in addition to the troop increase, we’re going to have an increase imposed on that increase that could make January worse than December.”
“I think we just have to assume that it gets worse,” Fauci added.
How are the countries at the beginning of the new year
In Arkansas, Governor Asa Hutchinson said Friday that the state has reported more than 4,300 new cases – a record that he said comes “in the increase after travel and gatherings at Christmas.”
On Friday, Georgia announced a total of more than 8,700 new cases of Covid-19 in the state – a new record. Maryland on the same day reported the second largest number of daily cases. Meanwhile, New York added nearly 16,500 new cases – a day after it recorded the highest number of cases ever in a single day.
“As the year 2021 begins, I encourage all New Yorkers to look to their best angels and continue the practices we know are stopping the spread of this virus – wash your hands, social distancing, and wear a mask,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Texas health officials reported a record high number of Covid-19 hospitalizations across the state for the fifth consecutive day, with more than 12,400 patients.
Intensive care unit capacity in many parts of the state remains dangerously low. In Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley, there are no beds available. A health official said earlier this week that the surge in patients had pushed hospitals to “the brink of disaster.”
This is because some hospitals have infrastructure issues that prevent them from providing patients with high pressure oxygen supplies.
The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said design and construction experts from the US Army Corps of Engineers are being deployed to the Los Angeles area “to evaluate and update oxygen delivery systems as necessary in six hospitals.”
The office said hospitals in the region are treating an “unprecedented” number of Covid-19 patients and “internal oxygen delivery systems that have been established in many old hospitals are cumbersome due to the volume of oxygen flow required to treat patients with breathing problems that arose from Covid-” 19 “.
Fauci: The United States will continue dosing the vaccine weeks later
To date, vaccines approved in the United States require two doses a few weeks apart. Fauci told CNN on Friday that the nation will continue to do it this way and will not follow the UK’s decision to possibly delay the second doses.
“I’m not going to endorse that,” Fauci said when asked about the new UK dosing regimen. “We will continue to do what we do.”
The UK has adopted this strategy in order to give as many people their first dose as quickly as possible, saying it provides a measure of protection.
“The truth is we want to stick to what the science tells us, and the data we have for both of them [vaccines] It indicates that you are giving a prime count, followed by a batch in 21 days with Pfizer and 28 days with Moderna. At the moment, this is the way we are following it, and this is the decision that was made, “Fauci said.
“We make our decisions based on data. We do not have any data to give one dose and wait longer than the normal period” to administer the second dose, he added.
Rebecca Rees, Elizabeth Cohen, Naomi Thomas, Sherry Mossberg, and Raja Razek of CNN contributed to this report.