Health expert: Daily coronavirus deaths could double in days



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Coronavirus deaths could double in days as Americans celebrate Thanksgiving with their families, expert says CNN Thursday.

More than 100,000 new cases have been reported every day since Nov. 3, CNN notes, and hospitalizations have also increased to a record high.

More than 2,000 Americans died from the virus on Tuesday and Wednesday, the media outlet notes. Before that, the United States had not killed 2,000 people a day since May.

Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine at George Washington University, told the network that patients hospitalized today were infected at least two weeks ago and it takes about seven days to become symptomatic. It takes another week for people to be hospitalized, and usually another week afterwards to succumb to the disease.

“I expect the daily death rate to double in the next 10 days,” Reiner said. “We will see almost 4,000 deaths per day.”

Experts have long warned that cases would increase during the winter months, as colder weather would force people to spend more time indoors, where the virus can spread more easily.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving, and the White House Coronavirus Task Force urged states to do “significant behavior change ‘ tackle the “aggressive, rapid and increasing” spread of cases during the holidays.

More than 12.7 million Americans have contracted the virus since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 262,000 have died.



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