The sad part of the thousands of Americans who will die in the coming weeks of the coronavirus pandemic is that they should not pass, according to a health expert.
“Every death we talk about this afternoon is preventable,” Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN on Thursday. “None of this has to happen.
“We have the ability to stop these deaths, eliminate vaccines, keep masks, distance ourselves socially. We just have to get everyone to stay there for a few more weeks.”
As of Thursday afternoon, more than 328,000 people in the United States have died from Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The seven-day average of deaths increases by 22 states compared to the previous seven-day average.
Experts fear that holiday meetings will lead to another wave of cases, followed by another wave of hospitalizations, followed by another wave of deaths.
“We can still save lives,” Hotez said. “No one should lose their life over the next few weeks and months. But it’s a difficult message to convey.”
Deaths are expected to reach 567,000 in April
More than a million people have received the first vaccine against the Covid-19 vaccine, but an influential coronavirus model predicts that the death toll in the United States will rise by more than half a million, to more than 567,000 on 1 April.
The latest projection from the Institute of Health Metrics and Assessment at the University of Washington notes that the number could explode to 731,000 before April 1 if states facilitated mandates to contain the new coronavirus.
But more than 33,000 lives could be saved by the projected vaccine launch, the IHME said, and 45,000 could be saved if the launch was faster.
Across the country, the use of masks has increased to 74 percent, the IHME said. If it expanded to 95%, on April 1 there would be 49,000 fewer deaths.
The latest IHME model comes when the United States has placed its hopes on the launch of newly licensed Covid-19 vaccines. Operation Warp Speed has distributed approximately 9.5 million doses and administered at least one million doses as of early Wednesday, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“With Covid-19 cases continuing to rise across the country, this achievement comes at a critical time and will help protect those at the forefront (our healthcare providers treating patients with COVID-19).” as well as the most vulnerable: elderly people living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, ”said CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield.
Vaccinations may not arrive too soon in California, which became the first state to affect 2 million cases of coronavirus on Wednesday afternoon (more than all but a handful of countries), less than six weeks after the state reached one million cases on November 12 Considering the state’s population of 39.5 million, approximately 1 in 20 people in California has tested positive for the virus.
The positivity rate for the 7 days of the state now stands at 12.6%, a slight decrease compared to previous weeks. However, 55 of California’s 58 counties remain at the most restrictive purple level of the state’s Covid-19 reopening system, which has resulted in the closure of many non-essential business operations.
Governor Gavin Newsom has attributed the recent increase in cases to people relaxing relaxation efforts and meeting people outside their homes, especially during the holidays.
A total of 23,558 Californians have died from complications of the disease since the start of the pandemic.
“We have an end in sight”
In all, the United States reported 228,131 new coronavirus cases and 3,359 new deaths on Wednesday, the third deadliest in a single day. This is a devastating “normal” for the United States, which has averaged about 215,000 new cases and more than 2,700 new deaths each day over the past week.
Dr. Andrew Pastewski, medical director of the intensive care unit at Miami’s South South Medical Center, attributed the increase in cases at his hospital to Thanksgiving.
“And with the upcoming holidays, we’re very scared of what we’re about to see,” she told CNN’s Erica Hill.
But with the vaccine, “we have an end in sight,” Pastewski said.
The government has said it intends to distribute 20 million first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in the coming weeks, a little later than originally planned.
“It’s been a great week of vaccine delivery,” General Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, told reporters on Wednesday. “More than 7,800 deliveries by the end of tomorrow, as we deliver the 7.9 million vaccine doses allocated for this week nationwide, really a huge feat.”
Perna said about 15.5 million doses of vaccine have been allocated and another 4.5 to 5 million will be allocated next week.
“We will finish these deliveries in the first week of January,” he said.
In addition, health care workers have discovered that the Pfizer vaccine, a frozen solution that is diluted with saline before giving it to people, can produce more than the five doses initially thought.
As such, Perna said the auxiliary kits that are shipped along with the vaccine are being adjusted with additional supplies to accommodate a possible sixth dose.
“We have adjusted our contract and our construction of the kits to … provide even more capacity as we move forward,” Perna said Wednesday.
He noted that the kits already had some “additional capacity” built in and that right now most of the vaccine administration takes place in hospitals “where they have access to syringes and needles accordingly”.
“So feel very comfortable with the availability of syringes and needles and our ability to attach these kits and continue the simultaneous distribution of the kits with the vaccine,” he said.