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60,000 people could die of covid in the next few weeks in the United States.

2020-11-28T19:09:36.659Z


The covid-19 pandemic is sweeping the US, already more devastating than previous waves and showing no signs of slowing down.


CDC estimates that only 1 in 8 cases was recorded 0:41

(CNN) -

The covid-19 pandemic is sweeping the US: it is already more devastating than previous waves and shows no signs of slowing down.

On Thanksgiving Day, the US celebrated its 24th consecutive day with more than 100,000 new cases.

Hospitalizations on Thursday hit a new record, for the 17th day in a row, with more than 90,400 covid-19 patients nationwide, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

More than 1,200 deaths were reported.

The death toll in the country since the start of the pandemic is now more than 263,000.

And nearly 60,000 more could lose their lives in the next three weeks, according to a joint forecast released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week.

An expert told CNN late Wednesday that the number of daily deaths is likely to double in the next ten days.

"So we're going to see about 4,000 deaths per day, which is how you get another 60,000 deaths in just about 20 days," said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine at George Washington University.

And gatherings that took place over Thanksgiving could fuel an already fierce surge, officials warned this week, urging Americans to avoid traveling and celebrating only with immediate family members.

Many Americans listened, a survey this week showed, but millions more have boarded planes across the country since last week.

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"In a week, more likely two weeks, we will see a surge," Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University, said Wednesday.

"We are in a difficult moment."

In other words, the projections for the next few weeks are grim.

But that doesn't mean it's too late to start turning things around.

"If we all get together, wear masks and do social distancing, we could round this curve in two to three weeks," Schaffner said.

"We would see transmission decrease even before we get to vaccines."

LEE

: The increase in coronavirus cases during Thanksgiving could become the rise in deaths at Christmas, warns a health professor

What it would take to turn the tide

While a potential vaccine candidate could soon get the green light, the widespread effects of a vaccine are still months away.

But Americans have valuable tools that can help in the meantime.

It's the public safety measures that have been touted by officials for months: masks, social distancing, avoiding crowds and practicing good hygiene like regular hand washing.

It's a simple step, but it could make a big difference.

More than 40,000 lives could be saved in the next two months if 95% of Americans wore masks, according to projections from the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Amid the crisis, more local and state leaders have mandated the use of face masks in recent weeks in hopes of slowing the spread of COVID-19, including Republican governors who previously resisted similar mandates.

Meanwhile, in West Virginia, the governor, Jim Justice, has pleaded with residents in recent weeks to cover their faces, saying that the masks are "really the only bullet in the gun."

"If you have any drawbacks, if you don't believe in them, please use them ... what's the downside," Justice said at a press conference this week.

Look, we are not one of those who appropriate anyone's rights.

Jeez, I understand with all my heart, we don't want to do that in any way.

But they have to help me.

It's the kind of message that local leaders across the country need, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of tropical medicine at Baylor School of Medicine, told CNN Thursday morning.

“Keep saying it every day and hope that some people really start to believe it.

That is our only hope at this time.

We have to limit those increases and we need those local leaders to really step up, so this is absolutely vital, ”he said.

It's the only option that could help keep more people alive until a vaccine, he said.

"It's a matter of keeping your mother, your father, your brother, your sister alive from now on," added Hotez.

If only we could send those messages.

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: ANALYSIS |

In Trump and Biden, reality and fantasy collide on Thanksgiving

Florida extends ban to cities that impose mask use mandates

But in many parts of the US, masks remain a point of contention.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an order this week that prohibits local municipalities from issuing fines for violations of pandemic-related mandates, such as mask mandates, or for limiting restaurant capacity without justification.

The extension is in stark contrast to recent announcements by other state leaders of more restrictions and more enforcement.

In Connecticut, Governor Ned Lamont issued a decree this week increasing the maximum fine for companies violating covid-19 orders to $ 10,000.

The previous maximum fine was $ 500.

Miami Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava noted on Twitter Wednesday after the Florida governor's extension that "bipartisan governors across the country are implementing mask mandates as one of the best tools we have to fight the covid-19 ».

"It is deeply frustrating that @GovRonDeSantis continues to block local action and make it difficult for local leaders to keep our communities safe," Cava wrote.

"I am asking the governor to work with local mayors so that we can bring our local knowledge to the table," Cava added.

"We need to work together to create policies that protect all of our families and our economy in this time of crisis."

In the past week, Florida has reported more than 56,400 new infections and more than 520 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

CNN has reached out to DeSantis's office for comment.

Only 1 in 8 cases of covid-19 in the US may have been counted

In total, more than 12.8 million Americans have tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic.

But a new study suggests that it could only be a small fraction of the true number of infections in the US.

Only about 1 in 8, or 13%, of all COVID-19 infections in the country were recognized and reported through the end of September, the CDC researchers estimated.

That means up to 53 million people in the US could have been infected from February through September.

However, during that time, only about 7 million confirmed cases of symptomatic covid-19 were reported nationwide, the researchers noted.

LOOK:

CDC estimates that only 1 in 8 cases of covid-19 in the US was registered: the latest on the coronavirus

To estimate the number of COVID-19 cases that may have been missed since the start of the pandemic, the researchers used a model to adjust for the reported number of symptomatic cases in the U.S. They considered what is known about the detection of cases, asymptomatic infections, patients seeking care or not, and the risk of false negative results.

Limitations of the study include that the availability and use of the tests have changed over time and its findings serve as estimates only.

While the numbers may seem large, the researchers wrote that, even so, “this indicates that approximately 84% of the US population has not yet been infected, and therefore most of the country remains at risk. , despite high hospitalization rates. '

CNN's Ben Tinker, Evan Simko-Bednarski, Jacqueline Howard, Melissa Alonso, Amanda Watts, and Lauren Mascarenhas contributed to this report.

covid-19

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-11-28

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