Covid-19 in the United States: “We are going to talk about 3,000 deaths per day, that is to say a September 11 each day”

In the United States, the week that just ended has been one of the worst on the pandemic front in nine months. The country recorded new records of infections and hospitalizations almost every day. More than a million new cases were identified in the first five days of December and, for the first time since the start of the epidemic, more than 101,000 people are hospitalized. On Friday alone, 225,000 new cases and 2,563 deaths were recorded, according to the Covid Tracking Project. The last time the United States passed 2,000 deaths per day was in April. The virus has so far killed more than 281,000 people, almost five times the number of Americans killed in Vietnam and the equivalent of the population of the city of Strasbourg.

And experts predict the situation will worsen in the days to come. Indeed, despite the multiple warnings and desperate appeals from the medical profession, many Americans still gathered to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families at the end of November. Doctors are therefore waiting for a new wave of patients while hospitals are already on the verge of saturation. “Next week, we’re going to talk about 3,000 deaths a day, that is to say September 11 every day,” said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine at George Washington University.

After ravaging the Midwest, the virus is once again raging on the East Coast, the epicenter of the disease in the spring. And this time, the number of infected individuals is higher than eight months ago, in part because more screening tests are carried out. Pennsylvania recorded 12,000 new cases in one day on Friday, more than six times its April peak.

While waiting for the vaccine

And we are moving towards the disaster scenario that the authorities feared. The test centers cannot keep up with the demand. The hospitals are overwhelmed, the nursing staff exhausted. In South Dakota, 37 clinics have sent home some 150 patients with oxygen balloons to free up beds for those in worse shape. In Idaho, a small rural northwestern state, Jim Souza, director of a hospital center, said his facility was already over 80% full and that around 100 medical staff were absent, in quarantine because they tested positive or had been exposed to the virus. It is more than likely that in the coming weeks we will find ourselves at a point where we are going to have to ration care, he said, in other words do triage.

Only positive point, the drug agency must meet next week to study the marketing of the vaccine from Pfizer. According to the Trump administration, at least 20 million doses should be available by the end of the month. Provided of course that the distribution goes off without a hitch.