US reports 2,800 Covid deaths in a single day

The United States has reported a record 2,800 deaths from Covid-19, the highest number of single-day deaths ever reported, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The United States had already reported just over 2,600 deaths on April 15, during the first phase of the Covid-19 surge this spring. These were mainly concentrated in the northeast and in other cities of the country.

Wednesday’s grim toll came with further signs that the nationwide epidemic is growing more severe. The country reported more than 200,000 cases of the virus on Wednesday, the second-highest daily number, according to data from Hopkins. And more than 100,200 people are currently so sick with the virus that they require medical attention in hospitals, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project, managed by reporters from The Atlantic.

However, coronavirus data has become difficult to interpret after the Thanksgiving holiday, as states scramble to return to normal reporting schedules, so single-day numbers may be at least partially the result of ‘a delay in the notification. The trends, however, all point to an epidemic that is getting worse by the day.

Dr Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Wednesday that the United States is at a “very critical time” with about 90% of hospitals across the country in “hot areas.” “

“The reality is that December and January and February are going to be tough times,” Redfield said at an event hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce. “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 that is going to be placed on our health care system.”

Many hospitals across the country are already exhausted after months of work to deal with the relentless influx of Covid patients, as well as patients who still require medical attention for other ailments. Dr Megan Ranney, an emergency physician and director of the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health, said he heard colleagues across the country talk about situations similar to those in “low-income countries”, where medical care must be rationed.

“We are running out of beds and we are also going to run out of staff,” she said. “Our health care system is full even in normal times, so adding 100,000 more patients on top of our current burden of illness and injury is almost unfathomable.”

Some health groups, like the Association of American Medical Colleges, are urging hospitals to be prepared to deploy “crisis care standards,” which are typically used in serious situations such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks and disasters. natural.

With the situation already dire across the country, epidemiologists are holding their breath, monitoring the daily numbers for signs of what White House coronavirus adviser Dr Anthony Fauci has called a “flare-up following an outbreak “of Covid-19 cases after Thanksgiving.

The CDC on Wednesday urged Americans to postpone their travel plans for the winter vacation, which could further exacerbate the outbreak.

“Even if only a small percentage of these travelers were infected asymptomatically, it can translate into hundreds of thousands of additional infections passing from one community to another,” said Dr Cindy Friedman, head of the branch Travel Health from CDC, on a conference call. with journalists. “Cases are increasing and the safest thing to do is postpone the holidays and stay home.”

– CNBC Nate rattner contributed to this report.