|
 COVID-19 deaths reached 3,253 on Wednesday, pushing up the U.S.
total since the start of the pandemic to 289,740. A record 106,219
people were hospitalized with the highly infectious respiratory
disease.
Healthcare professionals and support staff, exhausted by demands of
the pandemic, have been watching patients die alone as millions of
Americans refuse to follow medical advice to wear masks and avoid
crowds to contain the spread.
Nursing home residents and staff have also felt the burden.
"This is a pandemic that no one has ever experienced in our
lifetimes," Stephen Hanse, president of the New York State Health
Facilities Association and the New York State Center for Assisted
Living, told Reuters on Thursday.
The one-day death toll exceeded the number of lives lost from the
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, underscoring the human toll and the call
for Americans to redouble efforts.
"No Christmas parties. There is not a safe Christmas party in this
country right now," Dr. Michael Osterholm, a member of U.S.
President-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 advisory board, told CNN on
Thursday.
"It won't end after that but that is the period right now where we
could have a surge upon a surge upon a surge," Osterholm said.
Potentially helping to rein in the outbreak, a vaccine could start
reaching healthcare workers, first responders and nursing home
residents within days in what Hanse called "light at the end of the
tunnel."
A panel of independent medical experts was due to decide on Thursday
whether to recommend to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a
vaccine from Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE for emergency
use authorization.
[to top of second column] |
A vote was expected some time after 3:10 p.m. EST (2010 GMT).
FDA consent could come as early as Friday or Saturday, followed by the first
U.S. injections on Sunday or Monday, Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser to the Trump
administration's Operation Warp Speed vaccine development program, told Fox
News.
A second vaccine developed by Moderna is a week behind.
Biden, who succeeds President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, has set a goal of
vaccinating 100 million people within the first 100 days of his administration.
In the meantime, intensive care units at hundreds of hospitals across the
country were at or near capacity, data from the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services showed.
Ten mostly rural counties in California reported having no ICU beds on
Wednesday, according to state health figures analyzed by Reuters.
Besides the human cost, the pandemic has forced millions out of work as state
and local officials impose restrictions on social and economic life to contain
the outbreak.
Congress, meanwhile, has struggled to end a months-long stalemate over economic
assistance.
Disagreements remain over business liability protections demanded by Republicans
and aid to state and local governments sought by Democrats before a final deal
is reached on pandemic assistance. [nL1N2IQ1SE]
(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Maria Caspani, Sharon Bernstein and Lisa Shumaker;
Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Steve Orlofsky and Tom
Brown)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
