While the first confirmed case of Covid-19 was recorded in the United States in the state of Washington in January 2020, it was the northeast that had the greatest burden of the disease. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island recorded the highest cases and deaths per capita among all states in that time between March and May 2020.
“It was hell,” said Dr. Brian Strom, chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences in New Jersey, said health care facilities in the region are overwhelmed, dealing with shortages of tests, personal protective equipment for staff, ventilators and beds. for patients, and even space for the dead.
“It got so bad that we asked for parking for body bags,” he said.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases that will be put in the spotlight, said the coronavirus in the US could kill 100,000 to 200,000 people while infecting “millions” of others.
By March 2020, cases had surfaced in more than a dozen states and countries around the world, and the World Health Organization had declared the outbreak a pandemic. While the Trump White House wanted to reduce the severity of the outbreak, many government officials have taken drastic measures to curb the spread of the virus.
California issued the first home order on March 19 and within a week, another 21 states issued similar orders.
Dr. Brad Spellberg, the chief medical officer at the Los Angeles County University of Southern California Medical Center, said he believes the stay-at-home order helped prevent an outbreak in the state.
“It prevented us from joining New York in the spring. “I think if we had waited another week or two, we would have been completely overwhelmed like New York,” he said.
The stay-at-home orders, which closed bars, restaurants, schools and all businesses other than those deemed “essential” by states, have skyrocketed. Just under 300,000 people applied for unemployment benefits the week before their home stay in California. The week of the order, the number rose to more than 3 million.
In Louisiana, things exploded after Mardi Gras celebrations. These cases would predict what would come when the spring break spread the virus deeper into the country.
As some states have again tried to reopen measures, officials have been hampered in the coming months. The fatigue of locks would greatly encourage disregard for protective measures and gathering in large groups.
‘If you look at the data, things started to decline once the province was closed in March last year. And it really took off the whole of April until May, ‘said Spellberg. “And then, in June, things started to increase, presumably because people got tired of the exclusion.”