After a punishing drop that left hospitals in trouble, some midwestern states are seeing a decline in new coronavirus cases. But signs of improvement are offset by the accelerating spread of the infection to both coasts.
States including Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Nebraska have seen a decline in the number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 over the past two weeks. Yet it still experiences an alarming number of deaths and hospitalizations due to the previous increase in cases.
With the winter weather driving people indoors, where the virus spreads more easily, there is no guarantee that the dynamics of improvement can be maintained, say doctors and public health officials.
“We have a vaccine in place, but that doesn’t change the big picture,” Dr. James Lawler of the World Health Security Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center told the Omaha World-Herald. “Things could still turn south quite easily.”
But he and the others are encouraged by the figures. In Iowa, for example, the number of new cases of virus reported daily has declined in the past two weeks, from nearly 1,800 to 1,250. In Nebraska, it has gone from about 1,800 daily to just under 1,300.
“I’m right now with my fingers crossed,” said Dr. Stacey Marlow, an emergency physician at UnityPoint Allen Hospital in Waterloo, Iowa. “The patients with COVID that I am seeing are very, very sick. But there are … less. ”
Deaths from the virus in Iowa have continued to rise sharply, to an average of 79 a day, up from 28 two weeks ago.
Of course, the hope is that the fall in infections will translate into a decline in deaths, but that may take time. Many of those now dying of COVID-19 may have been infected weeks ago.
Across the country, the death toll has exceeded 300,000, with more than 16 million infections confirmed. On average, the U.S. sees about 2,400 deaths and more than 215,000 new cases a day. An influential model from the University of Washington says deaths could reach 502,000 before April 1, even with a vaccine.
Lawler said there appear to be more Nebraska residents following warnings to limit food and wear masks in public. It helped several cities in Nebraska recently approve mask mandates, he said.
But he said it’s important for Nebraskans to be alert to maintaining social distancing while waiting for vaccines to be widely available in the spring.
In a call to governors this week, Dra. Deborah Birx, a member of the White House coronavirus working group, said the progress of the midwestern states is being offset by a “deteriorating situation” on both coasts.
Across the country, the number of people in the hospital with the virus has reached an all-time high of more than 110,000, according to the COVID monitoring project.
In California, for example, the supply of beds in intensive care units is declining, with new cases exceeding 31,000 a day.
“We have reached a count of cases that surpass all previous records,” said Van Do-Reynoso, director of public health for Santa Barbara County. “It is essential that everyone act now and stay at home. We are reaching a point where we can see on the horizon that our health system is invading.
In New York City, officials stopped the covered dinner at restaurants Monday as the number of infections continued to rise. State and municipal officials have warned that a wider closure may be needed if things get worse.
“We can’t let this virus keep growing, especially at a time when we’re finally getting the vaccine and we can turn the corner,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
Some 370 coronavirus patients were in the city in intensive care this week, three times as many as a month ago, but a fraction of the more than 3,100 patients who filled ICUs in April. Across the state, new confirmed cases have gone from about 6,500 daily to more than 10,100 in the past two weeks.
In New Jersey, an increase in new cases from about 4,000 daily in late November to an average of 4,900 has raised concerns among health care providers and providers. But the dynamics are very different from last spring’s crisis.
“People are still dying from the disease, but certainly not because of the amount of numbers we were seeing back then,” said Dr. John Bonamo, chief physician and quality officer at RWJ Barnabas Health, a large state hospital operator. .
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Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth, in Mission, Kansas, and Carla K. Johnson, in Washington state, contributed to this report.