|
 The chorus of public appeals intensified heading into a holiday
weekend expected to further fuel an alarming surge of infections
nationwide, while the daily U.S. death toll climbed above 2,000 - at
least four deaths every three minutes. It marked the highest 24-hour
loss of life from the pandemic since early May.
"We are on fire with COVID," Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on
CNN, defending unpopular restrictions he ordered last week that
included new limits on retail activity and school closures. "We're
just trying to do the right thing."
More than half the nation's governors have imposed - or reimposed -
statewide measures this month to slow the contagion, ranging from
tougher face-mask requirements and social curfews to stringent new
limits on restaurants, bars and other businesses. Yet the metrics of
the virus have only worsened.
The number of patients being treated for coronavirus infections in
U.S. hospitals surpassed 87,000 on Tuesday, an all-time high, while
30 of the 50 states reported a record number of COVID-19-related
hospitalizations this month.
The soaring caseload has taxed already exhausted healthcare
providers and further strained medical resources as 171,000
Americans test positive and 1,500 or more perish from COVID-19 every
day, on average.
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams urged the public to grasp "the
severity of the moment" and remain diligent in wearing face
coverings, avoiding crowds and washing hands until newly developed
therapeutic treatments and vaccines can be made widely available in
the months ahead.
"We just need you, the American people, to hold on a little bit
longer," Adams told Fox News in an interview. He joined other health
authorities on Tuesday to advise against holiday travel, and called
for families to limit their traditional Thanksgiving celebrations on
Thursday to small gatherings of immediate household members.
GRAPHIC: Where coronavirus cases are rising and falling in the
United States - https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/USA-TRENDS/dgkvlgkrkpb/index.html
HOW TO JUST SAY 'NO'
California's top health official, Dr. Mark Ghaly, went so far in his
weekly public COVID briefing on Tuesday as to offer up "COVID chat"
talking points for politely but firmly declining invitations to
family gatherings that might be unsafe.
"Saying 'no' to people you love is never easy ... but knowing how
and when to say 'no' is the first step to protecting your health and
the health of the people you care about," Ghaly wrote.
Government data and projections from the American Automobile
Association show such pleas are being widely disregarded.
Although fewer in number than is typical, millions of Americans have
flocked to airports and highways in recent days, leading to the
busiest U.S. travel period since the early days of the pandemic in
March.
One travel complication may soon be relaxed, as the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention considers shortening its recommended
14-day quarantine after potential exposure to the virus for
individuals who test negative during their isolation.
[to top of second column] |
Health authorities also said this week they expected the first vaccines to win
U.S. regulatory approval for distribution next month and begin to be
administered to frontline healthcare workers and other high-priority individuals
by mid-December. But the shots are unlikely to become widely available to the
general public on demand before April or May, experts have said.
ANTIBODY TREATMENTS
In the meantime, doctors will soon have additional medical treatments for
COVID-19 at their disposal.
A newly authorized antibody combination therapy from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
Inc was due to begin U.S. government distribution on Tuesday.
The state of Texas opened an outpatient facility to provide infusions of the
experimental antibody drug bamlanivimab to COVID-positive individuals at an
alternative-care site in El Paso, a city especially hard hit by the virus.
After initially clobbering major U.S. metropolitan areas during the spring, the
COVID-19 pandemic has since engulfed rural and small-town America.
Infection rates in a dozen Midwestern states have more than doubled those of any
other region, according to the COVID Tracking Project, soaring 20 times higher
from mid-June to mid-November.
Many Midwestern hospitals have reported shortages of beds, equipment and
clinical staff, with some of the most dire scenarios playing out in areas where
the public has been most resistant to wearing masks and practicing social
distancing.
"There's a disconnect in the community, where we're seeing people at bars and
restaurants, or planning Thanksgiving dinners," said Dr. Kelly Cawcutt, an
infectious disease physician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. As
health workers, she said, "we feel kind of dejected."
To be sure, many Americans were taking the crisis seriously.
Jerard Gunderway, 44, driving from Massachusetts to North Carolina for
Thanksgiving, said his family was limiting its gathering to just to him, his
wife and stepdaughter.
"Just family during this situation right now. Keep everyone safe," he said from
a rest stop in Connecticut. "I try to keep it low-key until we figure this all
out."
Thanksgiving was not the only holiday being sacrificed for the sake of public
health. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago said on Tuesday it was
canceling the in-person celebration of its Dec. 11-12 "Our Lady of Guadalupe"
festival, an event that typically draws some 200,000 faithful to a suburban
shrine.
GRAPHIC: COVID-19 global tracker - https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/
(Reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington, Maria Caspani and Nick Brown in New
York, Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Writing by
Daniel Trotta and Steve Gorman; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Lincoln Feast and
Peter Cooney)
[© 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. |
