The United States added three alarming records on Wednesday that add the country, as the days go by, in an unprecedented health crisis and place its health system on the brink of collapse. That day, more than 200,000 new cases of people infected by the coronavirus were reported; the number of patients hospitalized for this disease reached 100,000; and at least 2,804 deaths were registered, busting all the marks since the pandemic began, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Since the first peak of the pandemic in the spring, no such number of deaths had been reported. Although there is a debate about the exact number of deaths this Wednesday, the figure represents a maximum point compared to the last record, 2,752 deaths, registered on April 15.
There is no room for optimism. Everything indicates that the situation is going to get worse. According the Center for Disease Control (CDC, acronym in English), the next three months are going to be “the most difficult time in the history of the public health of the nation.” According to Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, the total number of deaths from covid-19 already exceeds 272,000 and could reach 450,000 by February. Health experts, including the nation’s top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, have further stated that the virus has killed more people than official statistics show.
Despite the good news that the possibility of an upcoming vaccine brings, the CDC estimates the possibility of thousands of deaths in the next four weeks, which includes an estimate of between 9,500 and 19,500 deaths in the week of Christmas alone. The richest country in the world is thus faced with the heartbreaking possibility of registering in the coming days the daily equivalent in victims of those suffered by the terrorist attacks of 9/11, which left nearly 3,000 dead.
The United States has accumulated about 14 million cases of coronavirus (out of a population of 310 million) and, with the upward trend, the nation will soon reach 300,000 deaths with a pandemic out of control after the holiday period of Thanksgiving. Thank you and the upcoming arrival of the Christmas holidays.
For the director of the CDC, “December, January and February are going to be difficult times,” in large part due to the pressure that the country’s health system will endure, with almost 20,000 patients in intensive care units, Redfield reported during a conference.
While the loss of life is the same, what differentiates the peak experienced in spring and the one suffered by the United States now is that then the deaths were concentrated in New York and New England and today the devastation of the pandemic is suffered throughout the country. For example, the four states with the highest number of reported cases per capita at this time are South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wyoming.
What the health authorities predicted is happening – and what the important Thanksgiving holiday has not helped, with trips and family reunions – that with the fall there would be a rebound in cases and hospital capacity would be stretched to the maximum with the increase of deaths from north to south and from east to west in the country. But it is not only that the virus is appearing in places it had not reached before, but that it has re-emerged in areas where it was supposedly contained. Instead of there being room for hope, all the gauges in virtually the entire nation are pointing in the worst direction: an increase in infections and deaths.
The president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, presented his economic team this week and promised to help Americans overcome the economic crisis that the pandemic has brought with it, which his future Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, called a “tragedy.” “These are difficult times, but aid is on the way,” said the Democrat, who will take office on January 20.
Information about the coronavirus
– Here you can follow the last hour on the evolution of the pandemic
– Restrictions search engine: What can I do in my municipality?
– This is how the coronavirus curve evolves in the world
– Download the tracking application for Spain
– Guide to action against the disease
