More than 120,000 people are receiving COVID treatments in American hospitals on Christmas Eve. This is not just a record, but double the number of patients who were in hospitals at the peak of the outbreak in April.
More than 18.7 million cases have now been confirmed in the United States and more than 330,000 Americans have died.
With American hospitals already overwhelmed and concerns about the new, much more infectious variant of COVID, which is spreading in the UK, the CDC is cracking down. All passengers must provide written documentation that has been negative in the last 72 hours before leaving the UK and entering the US
The queen sent a smiling Christmas message to the closed nation
“Missing friends and family distance themselves for safety, when all they really want for Christmas is a simple hug or a handshake, if you’re among them, you’re not alone,” Queen Elizabeth said.
Some traditions continued, albeit without the crowds. From the Vatican to the city of Bethlehem.
Only a handful of parishioners were allowed to enter the Christmas Mass in Los Angeles, where every 10 minutes, someone dies from COVID.
“This is unprecedented,” Dr. Stephen Patterson said. He said many of his current patients are in their twenties, with no underlying conditions and are now desperately ill.
His message to people is to “think about the decisions you make.” I’ll take off my mask here ”or“ decide I’d like to go out.
But the nation’s airports are the busiest since the pandemic began. And there are terrible warnings about the increase to come.
Researchers continue to estimate more than 500,000 deaths in the United States by April.
Despite this painful prediction, there are stories of triumph.
This is Merlin Pambuan, an ICU nurse in Southern California who treated patients with COVID, who later became one.
Four months with a ventilator, 8 months fighting the virus inside the same hospital where he worked for 40 years.
Her message tonight to those who treated her and those who are now fighting for her life: “Don’t lose hope, just fight. Fight.”
In LAX, up to three non-stop flights continue to arrive every day from the UK It is still unclear the effectiveness of vaccines for the new strain and a Boston doctor had the first severe allergic reaction to the Modern vaccine .