Coronavirus: the United States breaks the record of hospitalizations for covid-19 – International

The United States hit a new record, registering more than 100,000 people hospitalized with covid-19. It is the first time that this ceiling has been exceeded in that country, the one most mourned by the pandemic, with over 273,000 of the nearly 1.5 million deaths recorded worldwide.

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Currently, as many people die in the first world power as at the worst moment of the first wave of the epidemic, in the spring. In fact, more than 2,000 have died every day in the last days and the death toll on Wednesday topped 2,700.

The pandemic in the United States is even more critical now than it was in the first wave. Although doctors know better treatments for the disease and which patients can stay at home instead of occupying a hospital bed, the current number of hospitalizations is much higher than the 60,000 recorded in the peaks of April and July, according to the Covid Tracking Project organization.

And, unlike previous spikes, the coronavirus is now circulating everywhere. Half of the states show an incidence of over 400 cases per week per 100,000 inhabitants, which is the threshold that triggered reconfirmation in France.

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But in the United States, few states consider re-confinement and the restrictions are only piecemeal, in the absence of a national strategy by President Donald Trump, which focuses on the arrival of vaccines.

“The reality is that December, January and February are going to be tough times,” warned Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Robert Redfield. “This will be the most difficult period in the history of public health in this country. Unfortunately, by February, we could be approaching 450,000 “dead Americans,” he warned.

Based on the average epidemiological models compiled by the CDC, a total of 300,000 deaths will have been recorded by the beginning of 2021. It is a figure that, as we know, underestimates reality: counting the deaths diagnosed incorrectly and indirectly, that number had already been reached in October.

Wearing a face mask is mandatory in most of the United States, but in the patchwork of local restrictions one fact dominates: businesses, restaurants, and places of worship are still open in many places, and the only governors who have imposed a curfew are from California and Ohio.

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The California governor announced new measures Thursday, banning crowds and non-essential activities. More locally, cities and counties have reacted by limiting restaurants to terraces or closing schools, as in New York. Many, like Chicago, have asked residents to stay at home, except for essential travel.

Political decentralization is a pride in the US, but a weakness in this case, sums up Anthony Fauci, director of the US Institute of Infectious Diseases, complaining that so many meeting places are still open.

The Trump administration plans to vaccinate around 20 million people in December with Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines – if the drug regulator gives the green light – and another 80 million in January and February. But herd immunity and a return to normal could appear around April, May or June, according to Fauci.

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For now, three former presidents – Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton – have said they would be publicly vaccinated with pleasure. On the other hand, US President-elect Joe Biden said on Thursday that he asked Fauci stay in charge and join your squad to fight covid-19.

AFP Y EFE

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