Coronavirus spread in US pushes Colorado to step up emergency response

With 1,100 hospital residents with the virus and more than 4,400 new cases reported on Saturday, the state health department said, Colorado is just one of many states struggling to respond to cases of outbreak. Nationwide, 45 states are reporting an increase in cases of more than 10% from last week, bringing the national total to more than 10.9 million cases and 245,600 deaths, according to data from the ‘Johns Hopkins University.

“Please take this seriously. Either you are part of the solution by fighting the good fight to help others, or you are helping to spread this virus,” Beshear warned.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has announced a temporary statewide temporary shutdown of in-person services for non-essential activities until the end of the month and Oregon Governor Kate Brown has ordered a two-week freeze in the state starting Wednesday. Bars and restaurants are limited to delivery or take out, gyms will be closed, and businesses are urged to have employees work from home whenever possible.

The upcoming holidays could cause cases to explode even more, Dr. James Phillips, chief disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital, told CNN’s Erica Hill on Saturday.

Hospitals already under pressure before the peaks

Already, hospitals are feeling the consequences of new peaks in coronavirus cases.

As of Saturday, 69,455 people were hospitalized with the virus, according to the COVID Tracking Project. This was the fifth consecutive day of hospitalization records, with 68,500 recorded the day before.

In Colorado, 180 new hospital admissions were reported on Saturday, with 43% of adult intensive care ventilators used and 15% of beds occupied by confirmed and suspected Covid-19 patients in the state, the state said. health website.

State hospitals are now working to increase capacity, increase staff and reduce elective procedures, according to the governor’s statement.

And the expected surge isn’t going to help, experts say.

“Things are going to get much, much worse,” said Dr. Leana Wen, CNN medical analyst and former Baltimore health commissioner. She worried about the impact on the already strained health system when new cases added in recent days are reflected in hospitalizations.

“We have this coronavirus storm all over the country,” Wen said. “It’s not one or two hotspots, the whole country is a hotspot for coronavirus infection.”

Flu season collides with pandemic

In addition to bringing people indoors and increasing the spread, health experts have warned that flu season could complicate the pandemic.

The flu and the coronavirus can cause many of the same symptoms, U.S. surgeon general Jerome Adams said on Saturday, which can confuse patients with symptoms.

But Adams said there was one particular symptom that likely pointed to a coronavirus infection.

“The only symptom I would alert people to that really differentiates the flu from Covid is loss of taste or smell,” Adams said on NPR’s “All Things Considered”. “If you experience this symptom, you should immediately contact your health care provider and show up and take a Covid test.”

Adams urged the public to get the flu shot this year and warned not to self-diagnose. A healthcare provider can give better answers so that patients can respond appropriately to their symptoms.

“Covid seems to spread much more easily than the flu, and it causes much more serious illness in some people,” he said.

Navajo Nation crackdown on business

Starting Monday, the Navajo Nation will implement three weeks of stricter health measures to deal with the virus, according to a statement released by the Nation.

Two public health decrees and one decree were issued. According to the statement, one of the decrees requires all government offices and businesses to close from Nov. 16 to Dec. 6, except for essential employees needed to maintain essential services and government functions. The order also requires all schools to go online during this time, the statement said.

A second order involves a three week home stay and will restrict all travel outside of the Navajo Nation. Residents are allowed to leave their homes in an emergency or to purchase groceries, medicine and firewood, the statement said.

“We must implement these public health measures to protect our Navajo people and reduce the spread of this virus,” Navajo National President Jonathan Nez said in the statement. “We are getting closer and closer to a major public health crisis in which we could potentially see our hospitals filling up with patients.”

“The safest place is with us here on the Navajo Nation,” added Nez.