US Coronavirus: The country has reached a record 7-day average of new Covid-19 cases. And Thanksgiving impacts will only make matters worse, experts warn

The United States recorded 227,885 cases as of Friday alone, the highest number for a day in the pandemic.

But health officials warn that while some Americans could receive a vaccine by the end of the year, the country is unlikely to see any significant impact until late spring.

In the meantime, experts are projecting incredibly difficult months ahead.

Home ordering for San Francisco Bay counties

More than 278,800 people have lost their lives to the virus in the United States since the start of the pandemic. More than 10,000 of them have been recorded in the four days since the start of December, with more than 2,500 daily deaths reported across the United States each day.

Hospital systems across the country are reaching their breaking points.

In Miami-Dade County, Chief Medical Officer Dr Peter Paige said hospitalizations have risen nearly 140% in the past two months, while intensive care rates have jumped 58% in during the same period.

“This is especially concerning given that we really don’t know that the toughest days may still be ahead of us,” Paige said.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Friday called the accelerating pandemic “the greatest threat to life in Los Angeles we have ever faced.” Hospitalizations in Los Angeles County tripled last week, he said, and the county will likely run out of beds in two to four weeks if cases continue to climb.

It will go into effect on Sunday and will remain in place at least until January 4, according to Contra Costa’s director of health, Dr Chris Farnitano.

Although the Bay Area has not reached that threshold, officials have warned they are seeing evidence of transmission over Thanksgiving weekend that could fuel a surge in their community.

“I don’t think we can wait for the new state restrictions to take effect later this month,” Farnitano said on Friday. “We need to act quickly to save as many lives as possible. It’s an emergency.”

Here’s when most Americans will start getting vaccinated

Fauci told CNN on Friday evening that healthy, non-elderly Americans with no known underlying health issues would likely start getting vaccinated from late March through early April.

“Once you get in April, probably thoroughly with these people,” Fauci said. “That’s why what we would really like to see is that once you get into ‘open season’, in the sense that anyone can get it, that we really have a pressure. full-fledged to get people vaccinated, because the faster you get the overwhelming majority of the country vaccinated, the sooner you’ll have that collective immunity umbrella – which would be so important in bringing the level of this virus down to a lower level at the threatening level. “

“The sooner we get there, the better off we are.”

The FDA will also consider emergency use authorization for the Pfizer vaccine after the Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Related Biologics meeting on December 10, and we expect the Moderna vaccine to be reviewed by the committee the following week. “Giroir said in recorded remarks. at a meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee hosted by HHS on Friday.

“We all expect this to be the first and second of a number of vaccines to consider for AUS.”

Face masks remain essential tools

But the start of vaccinations will not mean the end of Covid-19, health officials warn.

“Vaccines and immunization will add a major, major and powerful tool to the toolkit we have at our disposal,” said Dr Michael Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s health emergency program. “But on their own, they won’t do the job.”

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added governments should not let their guard down, saying health care systems could falter under pressure further.

“Advances in vaccines give us all a boost and now we can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “However, the WHO is concerned that there is a growing perception that the Covid-19 pandemic is over.”

The CDC, which has gradually stepped up its recommendations on the use of masks, said Friday’s masks remain “essential” in controlling the spread of Covid-19, sometimes including at home.

“As the highest risk of transmission has been documented among household contacts of Covid-19 patients, ensuring the safety of the home requires physical distancing, using the other public health strategies summarized here, and, in particular, the consistent and correct use of face masks (outside the household and in certain circumstances within the household) to prevent the introduction and transmission of (Covid-19), ”the CDC team wrote.