Covid-19 has already depleted the United States. And this is just the start of a dark and murderous winter

“I could really be back in a war zone,” he said. “We are at war with Covid.”

Hospitals like El Centro have already been pushed to the brink as hospitalizations soar across the country. But with colder temperatures pushing people indoors and a tired public keen to mark the holiday season, healthcare workers could be overwhelmed.

The numbers paint a grim picture. The United States had its highest day of new cases and deaths on Thursday, with 217,664 and 2,879, respectively, according to Johns Hopkins University. And there was a record 100,667 hospitalizations, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

And while the vaccines are on their way, the United States has a long way to go before it can get back to normal.

“The reality is that December, January and February are going to be tough times,” warned Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday. “I actually believe they are going to be the toughest in the history of public health in this country, in large part because of the stress it will put on our health care system.”

There is a dire need for health workers

“Right now we have less staff than in the spring… when Covid started,” CNN affiliate nurse Kathy Santoiemma told News12 Westchester. “So we’re not even worried – we’re terrified.”

The need for more staff is felt in communities across the country. Thursday, Massachusetts Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders has announced plans to build a field hospital in Lowell, and she has advocated for people to come forward to staff the facility.

“If you have the skills, the positive attitude and the time to work in a hospital, we need you,” she says. “Now is the time to mobilize and serve your neighbors, your community and your loved ones.”

Edward is also feeling the pressure in El Centro. Despite the additional tent erected nearby, it is uncertain whether the facility can accommodate more patients without more staff. Those already working at the hospital are “severely exhausted,” he said, and some are getting sick.

He doesn’t expect the pandemic to end anytime soon, and he doesn’t know how long his staff will be able to continue.

“The resilience starts to crumble at some point no matter what I know this team is ready to do,” he said.

Nurses at the Hutchinson Regional Medical Center in Hutchinson, Kansas, are also worried about a potential increase in cases.

“There are days when you come home and you are not sure if you will come back, days when you arrive here and find someone you were caring for two days ago has left,” she says.

And yet, nurses are still treating patients who deny the virus is even real, she said. One patient told Jones that “masks don’t make any difference and Covid isn’t really a thing – it doesn’t exist.”

Funeral homes are flooded

This stress extends to all aspects of a community, including funeral homes like Frye Chapel & Mortuary in Blythe, California, along the southeastern state border with Arizona.

Sheila Kruger, managing partner of the funeral home, told CNN her business has tripled. She has booked a funeral for the next four or five weeks, with the coronavirus accounting for a growing share of deaths.

“We have had married couples who die one day apart, a husband and a wife. We have had parents and children who died a week apart. It’s heartbreaking, ”she said.

Kruger’s staff were overwhelmed this summer, dealing with 135 deaths in a month, up from 55 on average. She has since doubled her staff and purchased additional refrigerated units to store the bodies. But now they are filling up again.

Experts believe the death toll will rise exponentially. Last week, Dr Jonathan Reiner of the George Washington University School of Medicine predicted that the death rate would likely double in less than two weeks to an average of 4,000 per day.

Its activity nearly doubled in November alone – hosting 54 funerals compared to 30. Twenty-six of last month’s funerals were due to Covid-19.

While Kruger believes her staff can handle the business boom, she believes some are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, in part because they have to repeatedly notify grieving families that they cannot have a funeral for. five weeks.

“We’re all cringeing and saying, ‘We don’t want to do it again,’ she said.

The demand for food is through the roof

Needs are not limited to medical personnel. Many families are just trying to make ends meet.

Karen Sosa lined up at a food bank in Los Angeles this week for the first time. She has only been out of work for two weeks, but her family has four children to support, so they are taking advantage of the resources available.

“We don’t know when we’re going to have an income, which means we don’t know when we’re going to be able to buy groceries,” she says. “It’s a good lifeline. We don’t know when we’ll have the money, but at least we’ll have food.”

Sosa is not alone. There is lines across the country, including in Miami, where Paco Vélez, president and CEO of Feeding South Florida, said more than a thousand families lined up at a food distribution event Thursday to pick up boxes filled with milk, pre-cooked chicken and a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables.

But those boxes are being funded in part by the US Department of Agriculture’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program – and that aid ends this week.

“These food boxes are sold out at the end of this week … and then the rest of December, we’ll have to figure out how we’re going to bring in food to make sure these families have enough food for the rest of the month. »Said Vélez.

Los Angeles Regional Food Bank President and CEO Michael Flood said his organization’s food distribution grew 145% – unprecedented demand. Every day he sees families concerned with keeping a roof over their heads and knowing where they will have their next meal. And many of those who seek help are doing it for the first time, like Sosa.

“We don’t really know when this is going to end,” he said.