The United States is besieged by COVID-19 as hospitals overflowed before the holidays

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Americans were warned again on Tuesday not to travel for Christmas, as the latest wave of COVID-19 left hospitals struggling to find beds for the sick and political leaders imposed restrictions to try to curb new infections, which makes the holiday season painful. .

A new, even more contagious variant of the coronavirus that spread rapidly across Britain caused more fear to Americans who were already tired of the nine months of the pandemic and sparked talks among top U.S. officials to ban travel since of the United Kingdom.

The new coronavirus variant has emerged as the United States faces an increase in infections across the country that added more than a million new cases in just six days, according to a Reuters account, a total of more of 18 million since the pandemic began.

In California, an epicenter of the last beds of the intensive care unit (ICU) of the last waves, were scarce and hospitals said they did not have enough doctors and nurses to care for patients.

“The entire capacity of the California ICU has been declining. We’re all struggling, “said Dr. Imran Mohammed of Sutter Roseville Medical Center in North Sacramento.” We really don’t want to see more than that. We’ll be challenged to see more patients with ICUs and eventually we won’t take place. “

Many U.S. states and cities have imposed business closures and closures to try to control a wave of disease driven by last month’s Thanksgiving meetings.

Political leaders have called on Americans to stay home over the next vacation to avoid a rising threat that threatens to overwhelm health care systems, a request that many have challenged.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday that the altered coronavirus had not yet been detected in the United States.

U.S. Secretary of Health Alex Azar told Fox News that the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which received U.S. emergency use permits this month, should work against the new variant.

Moderna Inc. and BioNTech SE, who worked with Pfizer Inc. to develop their vaccine, are scrambling to test their shots against the new mutations in the virus, but have expressed confidence.

“Scientifically it is very likely that the immune response of this vaccine can also deal with this variant of the virus,” Ugur Sahin, chief executive of BioNTech, told reporters.

MORE THAN 600,000 VACCINES

More than 600,000 Americans had received the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of Monday, according to the CDC.

The first wave of shootings has so far been aimed at health workers and residents of residences, as well as senior government officials.

Americans with “non-essential” jobs have been told they would probably wait months until their turn.

Azar and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. head of infectious diseases, were fired from Moderna on live television Tuesday. President-elect Joe Biden was inoculated Monday in front of the Pfizer / BioNTech camera in front of the cameras.

The White House coronavirus working group has no plans to restrict travel from the UK, people informed on Tuesday on the subject.

But Michael Osterholm, one of Biden’s pandemic advisers, said all options need to be considered, suggesting the US government could demand a 14-day quarantine for UK visitors.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has ordered a 14-day quarantine for travelers arriving from the UK, South Africa or other “countries with a new potentially more contagious COVID-19 variation”.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he asked airlines to add their status to a list of 120 countries that require a COVID-19 exam for incoming air travelers.

“The United States should say the same thing as New York. Say people need to be tested before they come from the UK, ”Cuomo said in a Tuesday call with reporters.