Deputy Mayor Alix Desulme of the city of North Miami raises his arm during a prayer for local lives lost against COVID-19, as a memorial was unveiled to those lost in Griffing Park on October 28, 2020 in North Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
More than 4,000 people died of Covid-19 in the United States in one day for the first time on Thursday, as the country reports a record number and the outbreak is getting worse every day.
The United States has reported a record number of deaths daily in five of the last ten days, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. Over the past week, the United States recorded an average of more than 2,700 deaths a day, 16% more than a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of Hopkins data.
Nearly 20,000 people in the country have died from Covid in January alone, setting the pace for a month that will likely rival the deadliest December of the pandemic.
Senior health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warn that the outbreak is likely to get worse before it gets better.
“We believe things will get worse as we enter January,” Fauci said Thursday in an interview with NPR. He said Americans can still “rebuke this acceleration” if they strictly adhere to public health measures such as the use of masks and social distancing.
As of Thursday, cases were still rising rapidly, a sign that more deaths will follow as they are diagnosed, get sick and go to hospitals, many of which are overwhelmed by the rise in Covid patients. The United States reported more than 274,700 new cases on Thursday, raising the seven-day average to a new all-time high of 228,400, according to Hopkins data.
New daily cases are increasing almost everywhere. The average number of new daily cases increases by at least 5% in 44 states and the District of Columbia. New deaths are rising especially rapidly in Southern California, where health workers are rationing extra oxygen and asking ambulances to wait hours before leaving patients.
Cases and hospitalizations are also rising rapidly in Arizona, according to Hopkins data, a sign that new daily deaths could soon recover. The Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that it would be setting up an infusion center to help administer Covid antibody treatments, which have proven promising in preventing hospitalization if used at the onset of infection. .
With the outbreak growing, many Americans across the country are waiting to receive one of the authorized vaccines that are being rolled out. The initial launch has been slow, as the United States has failed to achieve its goal of vaccinating 20 million Americans in December, as federal officials had claimed.
However, federal officials, including Dr. Fauci and Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Vaccination and Respiratory Disease at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have said the pace is likely to increase this month. The launch has already shown some signs of slowly gaining speed.
The United States administered more than 600,000 shots in 24 hours, the CDC reported Thursday. That’s the maximum of a one-day period so far, according to CDC data. According to CDC data, more than 21.4 million doses have been distributed, but only 5.9 million have been administered.
Amid criticism of a slow initial deployment, HHS officials are urging states to move from the first level of prioritization. According to CDC guidelines, health care workers and long-term caregiver residents should receive the vaccine first. But HHS Secretary Alex Azar said earlier this week that states should open up to older, vulnerable Americans if the pace of the launch is accelerated.
Pressure is also added to rapidly vaccinate the arrival of a new variant of the virus. The new variant, known as B.1.1.7, which was first discovered in the UK, has now been found in at least seven states. While it does not appear to cause more serious illnesses, CDC officials say they believe it spreads more easily. This could worsen the outbreak and quickly overwhelm hospitals, CDC officials said last week.