Nearly 50,000 Americans are hospitalized with Covid-19

(CNN) – The spike has left nearly 50,000 people hospitalized in the United States as a result of COVID-19, and experts say the strain on health systems may soon worsen.

Hospitalizations increased in 47 states last month, according to the Covid Tracking Project, and as of Sunday 47,502 people have been hospitalized. The rates are accompanied by an increase in cases that made October a record month for coronavirus infections in the United States.

On Friday, the United States recorded the highest number of new cases with 99,321, the record for any nation in the world. And experts said the impact will likely continue to worsen as the colder months increase infections.

“We are only at the beginning of what appears to be exponential growth in many states,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, told the “Face the Nation” program on Sunday. CBS. “This is very concerning as we approach winter.”

Gottlieb expects Thanksgiving to be a tipping point and from there he said the hospital system will face similar pressure to its initial spikes, when hospitals across the country were reaching capacity as health was depleted.

Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the University of Washington’s Institute of Health Metrics and Assessment, said hospitalizations are the best measure of how the nation is coping with the pandemic and are often an indicator of the trend. the number of deaths.

The seven-day average for new cases is currently above 81,300, higher than at any other time during the pandemic. The increase has brought cases to more than 9.2 million in the United States since the start of the pandemic. And 230,996 people died, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

Coronavirus accelerates in the States

The spread of covid-19 and hospitalizations has reached staggering levels in every state.

This week, there have been more new coronavirus cases in Kentucky than in any other week since the pandemic began, Governor Andy Beshear said in a statement on Sunday.

“I know we’re tired, but if we can’t control the spread of this disease, we risk a darker and more deadly time this winter than we experienced in the spring,” Beshear said.

Illinois is working to control the virus by subjecting the entire state to new mitigation measures, Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health said Sunday. The state reported nearly 7,000 new cases on Sunday.

“With the increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths in our state, the Midwest and across the country, we must act responsibly and collectively to protect the people we love,” Pritzker said in a statement.

The number of people hospitalized due to the coronavirus in El Paso, Texas has reached an all-time high of 943 patients. And hospitals are struggling to keep up.

Area officials are preparing to add a third mobile morgue unit in anticipation of an increase in deaths.

“If that doesn’t put our situation in perspective, I don’t know what it will do,” County Judge Ricardo Samaniego wrote on Facebook.

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The governor of New York calls for the distribution of vaccines to disadvantaged communities

Although it is not expected until 2021, several vaccines are in development and officials are making plans for their distribution.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo criticized the Trump administration’s plan on Sunday in a conference call with reporters.

Cuomo said the plan, as the White House explained to him, calls for the military to distribute a future covid-19 vaccine to large pharmacy chains for distribution. A plan that, according to him, would disproportionately limit distribution in communities of color.

“Why was the covid infection rate so much higher in black and brown communities?” Cuomo said. “Because they are health deserts.”

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in September that it will coordinate with the Department of Defense and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide vaccine supplies.

Cuomo called on the administration to carry out targeted vaccine distribution activities in disadvantaged communities and to grant funds to states to develop their own programs of this type.

Once the highest, New York’s coronavirus test positivity rate is the third lowest in the country at 1.51 percent, Cuomo said.

“New Yorkers should be very proud of this fact, but we also need to remain vigilant,” Governor Cuomo said.

CNN’s Artemis Moshtaghian, Kay Jones, Evan Simko-Bednarski, Naomi Thomas, and Sheena Jones contributed to this report.