56 intensive care units in Florida hospitals have reached capacity

Florida juggles to stem the increase in cases of covid-19 1:21

(CNN) - The worsening of the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday produced a series of grim spikes in the United States, renewing fears that more hospitals may be overburdened with covid-19 patients.

At least 56 intensive care units in Florida hospitals reached full capacity on Tuesday, state officials said. Another 35 hospitals show ICU bed availability of 10% or less, according to that state's Health Care Administration Agency.

Georgia exceeded 100,000 reported cases of coronavirus, making it the ninth state to pass the mark.

In California, the number of hospitalizations statewide reached its all-time high and the virus positivity rate increased more than 2% in Los Angeles.

With nearly 3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the U.S., the need for evidence has increased. That has prompted federal officials to establish new test sites in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. But major diagnostic companies have said they face delays in testing.

Hospitals in Texas and Florida are flooded with critically ill covid-19 patients, and some local and state officials have made the use of facial coatings mandatory.

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Last week, the country averaged just under 50,000 new cases a day, the highest rate on record and double that of a month ago.

Texas reported more than 10,000 new cases Tuesday, marking the highest single-day total in the state since the pandemic began.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's leading infectious disease expert, said Tuesday that the death rate among coronavirus patients has decreased, but that Americans should not feel comfortable.

"It's a false story to feel comfortable with a lower death rate," said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, during a live broadcast with Senator Doug Jones of Alabama. "There are so many other things that are very dangerous and bad with this virus, don't get yourself into false complacency."

More than 131,200 people in the US have died from coronaviruses, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

An influential coronavirus model often cited by the White House raised its projections of deaths in the United States on Tuesday and now forecasts more than 208,000 deaths for November.

But facial masks could save up to 45,000 lives in the United States by November if 95% of the population uses coverage in public, according to the University of Washington Institute for Health Assessment and Metrics (IHME), which built the model.

"It's an incredibly simple strategy and intervention," Chris Murray, director of the IHME, told CNN. "It is one that will save lives, but it will also help the economy tremendously because it will prevent downtime that will inevitably occur when things quickly spiral out of control in some states."

READ : CNN's Richard Quest: “I had covid-19 two months ago. I am still discovering new areas of damage. ”

California Hospitalizations at Record High

Nearly 6,000 coronavirus patients are hospitalized in California, the highest number since the pandemic began, and the state is seeing a record number of covid-19 patients in the ICU, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.

California is just one of several states reporting a record number of hospitalizations. The increase in cases is invading medical facilities in Florida, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that officials will send 100 nurses and add nearly 50 beds to Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital. The center has 345 covid-19 patients, with 25% of them in the ICU, the governor said.

In Florida, at least 43 hospitals in 21 counties, including Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough and Orange counties, have reached capacity and show zero beds available in the ICU, according to data released by the Agency for the Administration of Medical Care (AHCA).

In Texas, the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston is treating an increasing number of patients who need a respirator, medical director Dr. Joseph Varon said Tuesday.

The medical staff "is working 16-20 hours a day," Varon told CNN.

Lina Hidalgo, a Harris County judge in Texas, which includes Houston, wants a confinement order in her county as coronavirus cases increase. A patchwork method, he said, will not stifle the virus in the long term.

"A long-term solution based on data rather than illusions is what will put our economy in a position to succeed," Hidalgo told CNN's Kate Bolduan on Tuesday.

In the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, a hospital in the city of Weslaco set up a tent outside to help cope with the influx of covid-19 patients, CNN affiliate KVEO reported.

The 7-meter tent is intended to help South Texas Health System emergency room doctors treat 20 additional coronavirus patients, in addition to the 14 that the facility could handle.

"We are trying to reserve the internal emergency room for the sickest patients," hospital director Pablo Laredo told KVEO on Monday.

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Michigan governor calls for 'put on mask campaign'

At least 31 states have shown an upward trend in average new daily cases, an increase of at least 10%, in the past seven days, starting Tuesday morning, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Those states are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, North Carolina, Dakota del North, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington State, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Only four states have seen an average decrease in daily cases of more than 10% during those seven days: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

One of the main case drivers now could be "silent transmitters," or people who are asymptomatic or presymptomatic, according to a new study.

The report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that asymptomatic or presymptomatic people could be responsible for half of the cases.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer called on Tuesday for a "national campaign to put on the mask," saying everyone needs to wear masks to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

"I think if everyone supported this, it's a simple and profitable thing we could do to really mitigate the spread," Whitmer told CNN's "New Day".

After weeks of health officials encouraging the public to wear face masks, at least 35 states along with Washington and Puerto Rico have implemented facial coverage requirements to help mitigate the spread of the virus.

READ : Study finds that silent transmitters could be responsible for half of covid-19 cases

United States Commits $ 1.6 Billion to Manufacturer of Covid-19 Vaccines Novavax

The US government has announced that it will deliver the largest government covid-19 vaccine contract to date, as the race to find and deliver an effective vaccine continues.

Operation Warp Speed, the federal government's covid-19 vaccine program, announced a $ 1.6 billion contract Tuesday with Novavax, a Maryland biotech company.

Novavax is the fourth company to receive federal funding to conduct large-scale Phase 3 clinical trials and manufacture its covid-19 vaccine. Each trial is expected to include 30,000 people.

Novavax's $ 1.6 billion will allow the company to test the vaccine and increase production before possible approval, with the goal of delivering 100 million doses by February, Stanley Erck, Novavax president and CEO, told CNN.

Jason Hanne, Shelby Lin Erdman, Elizabeth Cohen, John Bonifield, Jeremy Grisham, Adrienne Vogt, Kay Jones and Rosa Flores contributed to this report.

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