Dear Reader:

Worldometer, Dec 2: In the U.S., moving toward (not there yet) 15 million cases and 300 thousand deaths.

Yesterday, in the U.S., there were over 184 thousand new cases; there were only three days in the whole pandemic with a higher number of new cases, all three days in the current third/ winter wave (Nov 13, 19 and 20).

Yesterday, in the U.S., there were 2,676 new deaths; there were only two days this pandemic with higher numbers of new deaths, both days were in the first/ spring wave (April 15 and April 21).

CNN: US Coronavirus: Hospitalizations hit another record, as official warns of the ‘most difficult time’ in US public health history, Wednesday, Dec 2: “More than 98,600 Covid-19 patients were in US hospitals Tuesday — the most counted during the pandemic.. ‘The reality is, December and January and February are going to be rough times. I actually believe they’re going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation, largely because of the stress that’s going to be put on our health care system,’ Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday.

“Hospital systems across the country have for weeks said their capacity and staffing are being stretched too thin, and that patient care may suffer as a result. That includes New Mexico, where the state’s largest health care provider says it is virtually out of open beds — ICU and otherwise — at its nine hospitals. While those hospitals have been stretching capacity — by opening up new areas for beds, creating more double occupancy rooms and bringing in staff from outside its own system — ‘we are out of levers to pull,’ Dr. Jason Mitchell, chief medial officer of Presbyterian Healthcare Services in New Mexico, told CNN. ‘When you run out of resources — whether that’s doctors or nurses or beds or ventilators — you cannot give (the best) care. … We are not there yet (but) we are very close as a state.’…

“But as coronavirus hospitalizations rise, the number of daily deaths is predicted to get worse, with various experts recently warning that it could regularly surpass 2,000 and 3,000, and perhaps approach 4,000.  Health experts say they expect cases and hospitalizations to swell further in the coming weeks, when infections from Thanksgiving gatherings start to manifest.  And the CDC, like it did for Thanksgiving, is recommending that people postpone travel over the upcoming winter holidays, CDC Covid-19 incident manager Dr. Henry Walke said Wednesday.”

anita