Via The Washington Post: With coronavirus cases spiking nationwide, all signs point to a harrowing autumn. Excerpt:
This is the dismal reality America faces as the coronavirus continues its unchecked surge around the country: In North Dakota, health-care workers with asymptomatic cases of the coronavirus will be allowed to keep working as the number of infected patients outstrips the staff members needed to care for them, the governor said this week.
In multiple states, hospital leaders warned that the current spike is straining resources and sidelining the very staffers needed to face growing numbers of sick people. From Maryland to Iowa, local officials have pleaded for tighter restrictions that might help slow the virus’s accelerating spread.
As a worrisome summer gives way to a harrowing fall, the nation’s surge of coronavirus cases shows no signs of easing. With little help and scant guidance from a Washington stuck in political limbo, some states and localities rushed to put in place new restrictions aimed at slowing the virus’s spread. Still, almost every metric appeared headed in an ominous direction.
On Tuesday, the country hit another one-day record, logging more than 135,000 new coronavirus cases, along with 1,403 additional deaths. At least five states, including Missouri and Wisconsin, set single-day highs for fatalities. At least five more, including Illinois and Pennsylvania, set single-day highs for new cases. Almost nowhere in the country are caseloads actually subsiding.
“We’re now seeing widespread community transmission,” said Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R). “More people are getting infected with the virus, more people are being hospitalized and going into intensive care, and more people are dying.”
He announced plans to return the state to restrictions that haven’t been in place for months, including a 50 percent capacity limit on restaurants and a new health advisory urging a 25-person cap on indoor gatherings. Hogan also issued an updated travel advisory, asking residents to avoid nonessential travel to 35 states with high infection rates.
Nearly 62,000 infected Americans currently lie in hospital beds — a number the nation has not experienced since April. More than a dozen states have hit new highs for hospitalizations this month, with many setting records again on Tuesday, according to figures compiled by The Washington Post.
“I’m not sure it disappoints me as much as it scares the hell out of me,” said Michael T. Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. “This is like one huge coronavirus forest fire, and I don’t think it’s going to spare much human wood out there unless we change our behavior.”
More likely, he said, the grim present will grow only darker as the fall wears on. Despite positive news this week, no vaccine will arrive in time to quickly alter the current trajectory. In many places, bars, gyms and restaurants remain open. Weddings and funerals continue. People fighting pandemic fatigue or who are dismissive of the risks are gathering with friends and family, and doing so more often indoors as cold weather arrives.
Osterholm believes the United States will soon see new confirmed cases climb above 200,000 a day — a figure that would have seemed unfathomable when daily infections peaked at roughly 30,000 new cases a day last spring.
“I don’t see anything changing this right now. The behaviors are not changing,” he said. “The deaths will go up precipitously over the course of the next month. It’s going to happen.”