The United States suffered the deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday, with more than 4,000 people dying from the virus amid warnings that the situation could deteriorate further this month.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the record daily number of 4,085 deaths has raised the total number of deaths in the United States to more than 365,000 since the pandemic began, with more than 21.5 million people contracting the disease – both are far superior to any other country in the world.
The number of Covid-19 cases is rising in almost every corner of the United States, and deaths are rising dramatically in several places: in Los Angeles County, there is now one person dying of the virus every eight minutes. An additional 115,000 people could lose their lives nationwide over the next four weeks, according to University of Washington projections.
“We think things will get worse as we enter January,” Anthony Fauci said in an interview with NPR. “As we enter the next couple of weeks in January, this will likely be a reflection of the holiday season’s journey and the congregated environments that typically take place socially during this time period.”
Fauci, who will have to be Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser when he takes over the U.S. presidency on Jan. 20, said Americans could “dampen the acceleration” in cases by adhering to social distancing and the use of masks. “Now is not the time to pull back on that,” he said.
The incoming Biden administration will aim to encourage the universal use of masks for the first 100 days and increase vaccines against Covid to one million shots a day. Fauci admitted that the distribution of the vaccine had been slow to date: more than 5.3 million people have received at least the initial dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while sent more than 21 million doses to states.
This is well below the Trump administration’s goals, which promised 20 million people would be vaccinated by the end of December and 40 million doses distributed nationwide. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said the Washington Post’s vaccine distribution had begun on a “rocky start” and that the coming weeks “would be really critical to see how we can increase this distribution system and go smoother.” ”.
Steven Stack, Kentucky’s public health commissioner, said the federal government’s messaging had set unrealistic expectations of a rapid vaccination program. “We overpromised and were poorly supplied as a nation,” Stack said, adding that his state had only a third of the promised vaccines.
He added that there was also reluctance among some people to receive the shots. “Sometimes more than 30% of eligible people refuse to receive the vaccine when it is offered to them,” Stack said. “We need to be flexible or not administer the vaccine. A shot in an arranged arm is ultimately a higher priority than a shot in certain arms. “