Coronavirus US: HIGHEST daily death toll at 2,304, with 354k total

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The United States has reported its highest ever daily COVID-19 death toll with 117 Americans dying every hour in the past day – as an analysis of CDC data shows total fatalities could be as high as 345,000.  

There were 2,804 deaths recorded yesterday, which is up considerably from the previous record of 2,603 reported back on April 15 during the initial peak of the pandemic. 

Earlier, John Hopkins University had reported a staggering 3,157 deaths but revised the death toll this morning following an error in reporting from Nevada.   

Hospitalizations and cases across the country continue to surge in the wake of Thanksgiving with just over 100,000 patients being treated yesterday and 200,000 confirmed infections. 

Of the record number of people hospitalized, more than 19,000 are in ICUs and nearly 7,000 people are on a ventilator, according to the Covid Tracking Project.  

It comes as CDC estimates of deaths across the US this year reveal the true COVID-19 death toll could be as high as 345,000. That death toll accounts for fatalities, or ‘excess deaths’, that are higher than expected, according to a New York Times analysis of CDC data.

Excess deaths are the gap between the number of deaths and the expected number of fatalities. The analysis examines all deaths and not just those confirmed to be from COVID-19.

Between March and November, excess deaths were 41 percent higher than the official COVID-19 death toll. They were also nearly 20 percent higher than expected in that same time frame. The excess deaths could also be from other causes as hospitals become overwhelmed with COVID patients.

On a state level, the excess deaths coincide with where COVID-19 death tolls have surged at various points throughout the year. For example, excess deaths are currently highest in the Midwest. They were highest in the Northeast in the spring when New York was hard hit by the virus. 

In other COVID-19 news:

• Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti issues new lockdown orders yesterday as he warns that the city could run out of hospital beds by Christmas if the current surge in cases continues 
• Hard-hit North Dakota has now seen one in every 800 residents die from COVID-19
• President-elect Joe Biden, without citing what data he was referring to, warned that as many as 250,000 more people will die by January when he takes office 
• Dr Anthony Fauci confirmed he is meeting with Biden’s transition team today – the same day he slammed the UK for rushing through approval of the Pfizer vaccine too quickly
• The CDC, which had issued warnings against Thanksgiving gatherings, has now urged Americans not to travel at Christmas in a bid to prevent further surges 

The record-breaking tallies for both hospitalizations and new cases come as the CDC officially cut the quarantine period for people exposed to coronavirus from 14 days to between seven and 10 days and a leaked White House report revealed the US is ‘at historic risk’ for uncontrolled coronavirus transmission. 

The CDC is now recommending that if you receive a negative test, you can resume normal activity seven days after you were first exposed. If you choose not to receive test, you can resume day-to-day activities after 10 days.  

CDC Director Dr Robert Redfield issued a somber warning saying the country faces the prospect of a healthcare system strained to the point of collapse if the current COVID-19 trends continue.  

The virus has now reached every corner of the country – with 90 percent of all hospitals in areas designated as coronavirus ‘hot zones’ – and continues to spread on a much steeper trajectory than any previous wave of the pandemic. 

‘The reality is that December, January and February are going to be rough times,’ Redfield told a livestream presentation hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation. ‘I actually believe they’re going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation.’ 

President-elect Joe Biden echoed the bleak forecast during a roundtable with workers and small business owners hard hit by the devastating economic fallout of the pandemic.  

Biden, who warned of a ‘dark winter’, made the dire prediction that 250,000 more Americans could die over the next two months. He did not offer details to back up his assessment.   

‘We’re likely to lose another 250,000 people dead between now and January,’ Biden said. ‘You hear me? Because people aren’t paying attention.

‘You cannot be traveling during these holidays, as much as you want to.’  

Dr Anthony Fauci has confirmed he is meeting with Biden’s transition team today. The meeting came on the same day he slammed the UK for rushing through approval of the Pfizer vaccine too quickly and not carrying out thorough checks.

The UK became the first country in the world to authorize use of the vaccine on Wednesday, a move which is said to have angered Donald Trump. 

Dr Cindy Friedman, chief of the CDC’s travelers health branch, said that even a small percentage of people leaving their homes could lead to thousands of cases.  

‘Travel is a door-to-door experience that can spread the virus during the journey and into communities where travelers visit or live,’ she said. ‘We know it’s a hard decision, and people need time to prepare and have discussions with family and friends and to make these decisions.’ 

Similar recommendations were issued by the CDC ahead of Thanksgiving, with guidance towards staying home and postponing travel.

However, millions of Americans ignored the warnings and the number of people passing through Travel Security Administration checkpoints in airports were at their highest levels since mid-March. 

A leaked report from the White House revealed that ‘the COVID risk to all Americans is at an historic high.’

‘We are in a very dangerous place,’ the task force said in the report, sent to states on Tuesday and obtained by NBC News.   

The report, which is sent every week to US states, appeared to show the entire country as one giant hotspot with almost every county reporting at least 200 cases per 100,000 people.  

New cases per capita are shown on a gruesome map in the report, in which nearly the entire U.S. appears as one giant hotspot, with 19 states including North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and New Mexico, ranking as top areas of concern after reporting at least 500 new cases per every 100,000 residents last week.

A second map shows 27 states, including the Dakota, New Mexico and Montana, suffered more than 100 deaths per 100,000 residents last week. 

While the virus is surging coast to coast, Midwest states continue to be among the hardest hit in the country based on cases and deaths per 100,000 people.  

As of today, Minnesota is now the worst affected state with 100 cases per 100,000 people in the last week, CDC data shows. 

South Dakota follows with 98 cases, Wyoming with 95 cases and Nebraska with 93 cases.

The worst affected states for deaths per capita are South Dakota with 2.1 deaths per 100,000 residents in the last seven days. North Dakota follows with 1.5 deaths and Wyoming with 1.1 fatalities.

North Dakota, which was the hardest hit last month in both cases and deaths, has now seen one in every 800 residents die from COVID-19. 

LA residents are ordered to stay in their homes: Mayor Garcetti tells 4million citizens to remain indoors, restricts travel, closes non-essential businesses and says it’s ‘time to cancel everything’ as hospitalizations and cases surge

Los Angeles residents have been ordered to stay in their homes as much as possible under new lockdown measures put in place by Mayor Eric Garcetti that closes non-essential businesses, bans all travel including walking and prohibits social gatherings outside a single household. 

The new order, which was announced late yesterday, applies to the city’s 4 million residents as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations surge.   

Garcetti’s order, which as a long list of exemptions for residents and businesses, mirrors a directive put in place by Los Angeles County health officials last week.  

The city, which is the second-largest city in the country, was told the new move was ‘necessary for the protection of life and property in the City of Los Angeles’.

Garcetti urged residents to ‘cancel everything,’ saying no one should be hosting gatherings or going to gatherings. Those who break the rules may potentially be arrested, he warned. 

It comes as Los Angeles County, which is home to the city and has about 10 million residents total, reported surges in daily cases with 6,000 infections recorded yesterday. 

Garcetti’s order limits nearly all social gatherings of people from more than a single household but exempts religious services and protests protected by the constitution. 

He also directed businesses requiring the presence of workers to close, and set restrictions on travel, but specified a long list of exceptions to both.  

According to the order, people need to remain in their homes and avoid all travel – including walking, cycling and public transport – except if they need to engage in a number of the exempt activities such as visiting certain businesses and exercise. 

Beaches are to remain open for swimming and exercise, and walking trails can operate during normal business hours. 

The order also calls for business to cease operations if it requires in person attendance but, again, there are exemptions. 

Those businesses that are exempt from the order include healthcare operations, supermarkets and convenience stores, liquor stores, gas stations, banks, hardware stores, handymen services and laundromats, among others.

Retail stores that follow the county’s in-person shopping health protocols are allowed to remain open. Indoor capacity, however, must be limited to 20 percent and be closed between 10pm to 5am.

Personal care establishments such as hair and nail salons, tattoo parlors and tanning salons must limit indoor capacity to 20 percent. 

According to the order, non-essential businesses may be ‘permitted to conduct minimum basic operations including inventory, security, custodial services, payroll and employee benefits processing, and any reasonable activity designed to maximize the ability for its employees to work remotely from their homes’.

These businesses must also notify the public with a sign at their entrances that the businesses is closed to the public.    

‘My message couldn’t be simpler: It’s time to hunker down. It’s time to cancel everything. And if it isn’t essential, don’t do it.’

‘Don’t meet up with others outside your household. Don’t host a gathering, don’t attend a gathering and follow our targeted safer-at-home order, if you’re able to stay home, stay at home. Just be smart and stay apart.’   

Garcetti said Los Angeles County saw an increase of 5,987 new cases yesterday. Of those, 2,119 were from Los Angeles alone. The county now has a total of 414,185 cases. 

‘If we stay on this case trajectory, LA’s projected to reach 574,644 cases by the end of the year,’ Garcetti said. 

A total of 40 new deaths were added yesterday, bringing the overall total to 7,740. 

Garcetti said that public health professionals predict 11,130 people in Los Angeles could lose their lives by the end of 2020.  

According to Garcetti, 2,572 Angelenos were hospitalized as of last night, which marks a 5.5 per cent increase from a day earlier. 

The mayor said there are only 479 beds left across the county. At the current rate, health officials are predicting that the county will run out of beds by Christmas. 

The city’s statement regarding the new lockdown measures stated: ‘Our City is now close to a devastating tipping point, beyond which the number of hospitalized patients would start to overwhelm our hospital system, in turn risking needless suffering and death. 

‘These unfortunate facts about the spread of COVID-19 in our City mean that we must resume some of the more restrictive measures we instituted in the Spring. The way to avoid that dreaded scenario is clear. 

‘We must refrain from gathering with people from outside our household wherever possible. Angelenos have shown what is possible when we cooperate, listen, and protect our family, friends, neighbors, and favorite businesses.    

‘This most recent surge in COVID-19 cases presents us with an opportunity to work together, again, to reduce its spread and flatten the curve. We must minimize contact with others as much as possible. 

‘Even if you believe that the virus does not present a particular threat to you, consider the impact that your choices have on others. 

‘Because COVID-19 can be transmitted by someone who is unaware that she is carrying it, one person could be unknowingly infecting many people if she is not careful. The better we are now at staying apart, the sooner we will be able to come back together,’ the order reads.   

The surge in cases in both L.A. and across the US could be curbed when a COVID-19 vaccine is rolled out. Operation Warp Speed chief Moncef Slaoui said he expects expect approval of Pfizer’s shot in mid-December. At-risk elderly people and frontline workers will be first in line to receive the vaccine. It’s expected that 100 million Americans will be vaccinated by February.

The county’s health director Barbara Ferrer said: ‘We’re seeing terrifying increases in numbers.’

Los Angeles County’s caseload has gone up 225 per cent over three weeks in November, which was reflected in one steep and consistent line rising on a graph used at her briefing.

Ferrer urged everyone to mask up when out of the house for every activity except swimming.  

‘We do have a choice to make, each one of us,’ Ferrer said. ‘Do we want to be part of a solution to this horrifying surge or do we want to be the problem? Because where you fall in this effort now has a life-or-death consequence.’

On Monday, Los Angeles County also banned outdoor dining in a bid to stem the latest surge of coronavirus. 

Restaurants, which have already been severely impacted by stay-at-home orders and other restrictions, were seen with empty outdoor seating areas. Restaurants and bars are open for pickup and delivery only until at least December 17. 

Meanwhile, images in Los Angeles from Wednesday night showed empty streets as the city went into lockdown.   

California Gov Gavin Newsom, who is currently quarantining after his family were exposed, has also warned that he may reinstate statewide restrictions as cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to surge.  

California reported more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, shattering the state’s previous one-day record. 

Following an early summer surge that prompted a new round of restrictions, California’s cases plummeted in August and September. The state relaxed restrictions, allowing more businesses to operate, indoor religious services to resume and many schools to reopen for classroom instruction.

But new cases have exploded in recent weeks to the point that the state is averaging 15,000 new cases a day and the infection rate has more than doubled.

A record 8,500 people are in the hospital, including more than 2,000 in the intensive care unit, leaving the state with fewer than 2,000 available ICU beds.

Newsom’s own staff has been hit. A member of the governor’s office tested positive for COVID-19 Wednesday afternoon, the office said. The staffer didn’t have any contact with the quarantined governor but is believed to have come into contact with other staff members, who will begin quarantines, the office said.

Overall, California has reported more than 1.2 million COVID-19 cases and more than 19,300 deaths. The state reported 20,759 new cases on Wednesday, surpassing the previous high of 18,350 set just last week.

Newsom warned Monday that ‘red flags are flying,’ saying if numbers don’t improve he would take ‘drastic action’. Santa Clara County has already imposed new stay-at-home orders. 

Newsom is expected to follow both Santa Clara and Los Angeles counties in issuing new stay-at-home orders. The new measures would come during a critical time for retailers and restaurants, which were counting on a robust holiday season to rebound from a year marked by forced closures.

Last month, the state’s beleaguered restaurant and hospitality industry added 66,000 jobs as the state’s unemployment rate dipped below 10 per cent for the first time since March. But new restrictions are threatening those gains.

And the surge of new cases is coinciding with a rash of politicians violating the very rules they are urging the public to follow, cratering their credibility.

State public health officials said Wednesday’s record case total is not a true day-over-day change as the number includes cases from previous days. But they acknowledged the alarming increase.

Experts said the skyrocketing new cases likely don’t yet reflect travel and gatherings around Thanksgiving. 

Brad Pollock, associate dean for public health sciences at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, said he expects cases from Thanksgiving to start showing up in hospitals around Christmas.

‘I think the ICUs are going to be very busy during Christmas,’ he said.

California reported 113 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday, the most since 162 were reported on October 13. Still, Pollock noted the mortality rate has fallen as the virus has infected a younger population.

Newsom was still isolating in his Sacramento-area home on Wednesday after three of his children were exposed to the virus by an infected California Highway Patrol officer. A spokesman for Newsom’s office said the governor would remain at home until the weekend. 

The governor has already imposed the toughest restrictions on 51 of the state’s 58 counties comprising nearly the entire state population of almost 40 million, including a 10pm-to-5am. curfew for anything but essential errands and work.

But some local government officials have refused to enforce those rules, including Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, who announced Wednesday he had contracted the coronavirus after being close to an employee who had also tested positive.

‘The Sheriff is only one of dozens of Sacramento Sheriff’s Office employees who, despite rigorous institutional safety practices and following all recommended personal safety protocols, have contracted the virus while performing their essential duties,’ sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Rod Grassmann said.

Other local governments are imposing their own drastic measures. In Santa Ana, a city of more than 300,000 in Southern California’s Orange County, the City Council voted to authorize a mandatory face mask rule and for the police to enforce it.

‘The public should know there could be consequences if they don’t comply. But we would rather not have to take such actions,’ city spokesman Paul Eakins said.