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Covid-19 instances are expanding into more than 20 states in a damaging wave that a governor has described as an “urgent crisis. “
By Mitch Smith, Simon Romero and Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio
CHICAGO – USA, which reported its first known case of coronavirus in Washington state 282 days ago, surpassed the total of nine million infections on Thursday, adding more than a million last week, with Covid-19 uncontrollable to the head, until Election Day. .
Across the country, alarming symptoms warned that the worst was to come: the country reported more cases thursday (more than 90,000) than any other day; more than 20 states reported more cases in the following week than at any other time in the pandemic. Patients were sent to box hospitals in El Paso and the Milwaukee suburbs. Growing outbreaks have led to new restrictions on business in Chicago. Exactly no state has reported a sustained decline in cases.
“There’s no way to sweeten it, we’re facing a pressing crisis and an imminent threat to you, your family, your friends, your neighbors,” said Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, where hospitals have been tested. more than two hundred coronavirus deaths were announced last week.
At the end of the presidential election, the country has lately recorded an average of more than 75,000 new instances matching the day, the worst extent of the pandemic according to this measure. about 780 each day. More cases have been known in the United States than in any other country, although some countries have increased infection rates consistent with the population.
“This outbreak is more vital than any other wave or increase we’ve noticed so far,” said Amanda Simanek, epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Public Health, who said she was involved in seeing the number of cases that accumulate just as the colder climate forces more people into, where the virus can spread easily. “This is the trend that can continue if we don’t eliminate infection at manageable levels. “
Recent knowledge is almost uniformly bleak.
Twenty-one states added more cases in the seven-day era that ended Wednesday than in any other seven-day era of the pandemic. In parts of Idaho and Kansas, officials warned that there were few hospital beds left. In North Dakota, where more than 5% of the population has tested positive now, the number of cases continues to skyrocket, with a one-day record of more than 1,200 new infections on Thursday. With the country achieving nine million cases, experts lamented the missed opportunities that may have limited spread.
“I think it’s unexpected how temporarily this has happened,” said Dr. Larry Chang, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “I think we would do a bigger task as a country by organizing and proposing national evidence. based on plans to mitigate this epidemic. So, although I’m not surprised that we reached that number, it happened a lot faster than I imagined. “
Katie Lafond, who runs a café in Milwaukee, said she was worried about what winter might bring and frustrated because other people seemed unsure of the risks that were unfolding.
“They don’t realize that everything is happening here,” Lafond said. “I don’t see this ending anytime soon as other people continue to prioritize what they need to do over what they want to do for the community. “
The latest national build-up began weeks ago in the Upper Midwest and Western Mountain, but has now spread far beyond those regions. In the Northeast, cities like New Jersey and Rhode Island have seen an increase in the number of infections after months Kentucky and Pennsylvania are among the states with a record number of cases, and in Texas, the scene around El Paso It is so terrible that the government has ordered a curfew and some coronavirus patients have had to fly elsewhere.
Meanwhile, there is a sense that considerations about the dangers of fitness have diminished since the early days of the virus, when employers’ closure orders became widespread. Companies remain open in much of the country. Many academics continue to take courses. There is no national mask mandate, and President Trump, who spoke in the hope of a vaccine, insisted that giant crowds of election rallies had declared that the country was “turning the corner. “
“This can be prevented,” said Kaitlyn Urenda-Culpepper, whose mother died of coronavirus this summer in El Paso and said she was frustrated by the state and federal government reaction while “her hometown was devastated. “He said, “My mother didn’t do it. “
In the spring, when testing was limited, protective appliances were scarce and the country averaged more than 2,000 deaths in line with the day, the worst of the pandemic was concentrated in major cities in the Northeast. reached an average of more than 66,000 consistent with the day, the solar belt suffered the most. small towns.
“My biggest fear is not having staff for the beds we open,” said Dani Beebe, nurse at an extensive care unit at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah. “We are already in a long-term truth where each and every doctor takes care of Covid’s patients, regardless of their specialty. “
Beebe said fitness staff have learned a lot about methods of treating patients with Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, but that “now it’s worse” due to the increasing number of hospitalizations.
“We are preparing our contingency plans, but other people are already dying,” Beebe said. “You think they’re growing and a day later they’re fighting for their lives or they need attention for weeks. “
Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Texas Center for Health Sciences in Houston, said the country’s reaction has been hampered by politicians’ refusal to recommendations from fitness officials.
“We have pandemic fatigue, everyone’s fed up, right?”Dr. Troisi says, “But you know what? The virus doesn’t care. “
Mitch Smith reported from Chicago, Simon Romero of Truth or Consequences, N. M. , and Giulia McDonnell Nieto of the Milwaukee River.
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