By David Hall
Hospitalizations in the U.S. due to Covid-19 exceeded 125,000 for the first time, as more cases of a rapidly spreading variant of the virus emerged in parts of the country.
According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the US reported more than 220,000 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday. According to Johns Hopkins, the country reported more than 3,700 deaths due to Covid-19 on Wednesday, a one-day record. Worldwide, more than 1.8 million people have died from Covid-19.
The increase in both cases and deaths in the US is likely to be partly due to backlogs in reporting due to the Christmas holidays. Experts said figures are likely to rise later in the week after falling on Sunday and Monday.
Hospitals across the country have faced increasing numbers of patients due to the disease, as hospitalizations have risen to 125,220, according to the Covid Tracking Project. Intensive care units were also under stress, with 23,069 patients in ICUs.
In California, Governor Gavin Newsom confirmed that the new, rapidly spreading variant of Covid-19 that had initially emerged in the United Kingdom had arrived in Southern California. Colorado officials said Wednesday a possible second case of the variant has been identified in the state.
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that they are still learning how the variant responds to various drugs and treatments, but that they had no reason to believe that vaccines could not guard against it.
More than 12.4 million doses of vaccine were distributed across the U.S. on Wednesday morning, and according to CDC data, 2.79 million people received their first shot. Government officials said the low numbers reflected a delay in local health authorities’ reporting, and that vaccination efforts were still on the horizon.