(CNN) – Even if you do not have a coronavirus, record high COVID-19 hospitalizations can have a devastating impact on you.
“If you’re in a car accident, you’d want us to save your life,” he said. Brad Spellberg, chief medical officer at Los Angeles County University of Southern California, said.
“If you have a heart attack or stroke, you will want to go to an ICU bed with trained ICU nurses and doctors who do not care for 20 other patients at the same time.”
Some U.S. hospitals started running out of health workers months ago. But holiday gatherings are creating new waves of COVID-19 hospitalizations.
“We see people who gathered for Thanksgiving, or who gathered for other reasons (and) even up to this point did not really understand what was at stake,” Spellberg said.
Nationwide, 125,379 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Thursday, more than any other day of the pandemic, according to the COVID tracking project. The number of patients also rose 125,000 on Friday. The US has now stayed above 100,000 hospitalizations for 31 consecutive days.
“It’s about the total collapse of the healthcare system if we have another increase,” Spellberg said.
“And we in the hospital can not stop it. We can only respond to that. It is the public that has the power to stop the spread of this virus by complying with the public health guidelines that have been issued. ”
Offices and a break room turn into patient rooms
California emergency officials say hospitals treat an “unprecedented” number of COVID-19 patients, and “the internal oxygen delivery systems built into many older hospitals are overburdened by the amount of oxygen needed to treat patients with respiratory problems caused by COVID. arise, to treat. -19. ”
Design and construction experts from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been deployed to the Los Angeles area to “evaluate oxygen delivery systems and upgrade them where necessary” at about half a dozen hospitals.
“The hospitals we’ve visited have done an amazing job,” Col said. Julie Balten, Los Angeles District Commander for the Corps of Engineers, said.
But the volume of patients was overwhelming.
“We entered a hospital (Mission Community Hospital in Panorama City), and they converted their administrative offices into treatment areas for COVID-19 patients,” Balten said.
‘On one whole floor, they also treated COVID-19 patients in a renovated break room,’ she said.
A difficult start to the new year
While Americans called in the new year, more than 10,000 families mourned the new loss of a loved one to COVID-19.
At least 10,901 COVID-19 deaths were reported in the last three days of 2020, according to Johns Hopkins University. That is about 3,633 deaths per day – more than the number of lives lost during the 9/11 attacks.
In less than 11 months, COVID-19 killed more than 349,000 people in the US. And according to projections from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 115,000 Americans could die from the disease in the next month.
Arkansas reported more than 4,300 new cases Friday.
‘This is a record in newly reported cases. We are definitely in the throes of travel and Christmas gatherings, ”said Asa Hutchinson, Government of Arkansas. tweeted. ‘When we enter this new year, our first decision must be to follow guidelines. We must all do our part. ”
Texas health officials reported record-high COVID-19 hospitalizations across the state for the fifth consecutive day, with more than 12,400 patients.
And Georgia on Friday announced a new record high of 8,769 new COVID-19 cases in the state.
Government Brian Kemp said the Georgia World Congress Center conference center in downtown Atlanta has been turned into an overflow hospital.
New York added nearly 16,500 new cases on Friday, just a day after it achieved its highest one-day case ever.
“When we start in 2021, I urge all New Yorkers to look after their better angels and continue the practices we know, to stop the spread of this virus. Wash your hands, take social distance and carry on.” a mask, “Andrew Andrew Cuomo said in a statement.
Fauci: US will continue to release vaccines within a few weeks
Across the country, COVID-19 vaccinations are taking place more slowly than expected.
According to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 12.4 million vaccine doses have been distributed nationwide and more than 2.7 million doses have been administered.
So far, the vaccines approved in the United States require two doses based on a few weeks. And the US will continue to do so, rather than continue like this and will not follow the British decision to possibly delay the second dose, Fauci told CNN on Friday.
“I will not advocate for that,” Fauci said when asked about the UK’s new dosing regime. “We’re going to keep doing what we do.”
Earlier this week, British officials said the UK “gives priority to giving the first dose of the vaccine to those at risk” and that the second dose could be given up to 12 weeks later.
The UK has adopted the strategy of giving as many people as possible the first dose as soon as possible, saying it offers some protection.
‘The fact is that we want to stick to what science tells us, and the data we have for both [vaccines] indicates that you are giving a premium, followed by a boost in 21 days with Pfizer and 28 days with Moderna. And at the moment, that’s the way we are going with it, and that is the decision that is being made, ”Fauci said.
‘We make decisions based on data. We have no data to give a single dose and wait longer than the normal period ‘to give the second dose, he added.
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