COVID hospitalizations hit new record and deaths hit 300K on the first day of vaccine rollout
US has deadliest week of COVID-19 pandemic so far as death toll surpasses 300k on first day of vaccine rollout – with a record 110,549 currently hospitalized
- The US hit a new record for hospitalizations with 110,549 patients being treated for COVID-19 yesterday
- The number of hospitalizations has surpassed the 100,000 mark every day for the last two weeks with the seven-day rolling average of patients now at 107,856
- There were 1,311 new deaths and more than 193,000 new cases reported on the same day that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine started rolling out across the country
- The death toll surpassed the grim 300,000 milestone yesterday just hours after the first COVID-19 vaccine was administered in the country
- The Midwestern states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa currently have the highest number of deaths per 100,000 people based on a seven-day average
- Despite the Midwestern states currently experiencing the most deaths per capita, the number of infections in the hard hit region have been declining
- COVID-19 cases are still increasing nationally with infections last week totaling a record 1.6 million, which is up 15 percent compared to the previous week
- Rhode Island, Tennessee and Ohio are currently seeing the most infections per 100,000
The United States has hit a record number of hospitalizations with more than 110,000 people being treated for COVID-19 on the same day that the vaccine was administered to the first Americans and the death toll surpassed the grim 300,000 mark.
There were 1,311 new deaths, more than 193,000 new cases and a record high of 110,549 patients hospitalized with the virus as of yesterday.
The number of hospitalizations has surpassed the 100,000 mark every day for the last two weeks with the seven-day rolling average of patients now at 107,856.
The death toll surpassed the grim 300,000 milestone just hours after the first COVID-19 vaccine was administered in the country. The seven-day rolling average for deaths is currently just over 2,400 per day.
More than 17,000 Americans died of COVID-19 last week alone, marking the deadliest week since the pandemic began and a 12 percent increase in deaths compared to the previous seven days, according to a Reuters tally of state and county reports.
The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has projected that COVID-19 deaths could exceed 500,000 by April 1 if current behaviors remain in place.
The Midwestern states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa currently have the highest number of deaths per 100,000 people based on a seven-day average.
There were 1,311 new deaths reported yesterday as the death toll surpassed 300,000. More than 17,000 Americans died of COVID-19 last week alone, marking the deadliest week since the pandemic began and a 12 percent increase in deaths compared to the previous seven days
Death increased 12 percent last week compared to the previous seven days. Wyoming, Utah and Colorado saw the largest increases in deaths last week. North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa currently have the highest number of deaths per 100,000 people based on a seven-day average
Despite the Midwestern states currently experiencing the most deaths per capita, the number of infections in the hard hit region have been declining.
South Dakota’s infections declined 17 percent last week compared to the previous seven days and Iowa’s cases were down 25 percent. North Dakota still saw an increase of 13 percent but that has slowed considerably from previous weeks.
Deaths are a lagging indicator and can potentially surge weeks after infections.
COVID-19 cases are still increasing nationally with infections last week totaling a record 1.6 million, which is up 15 percent compared to the previous week.
Rhode Island, Tennessee and Ohio are currently seeing the most infections per 100,000, according to CDC data.
As infections decline in the Midwest, states in the West have seen the largest surge. Based on yesterday’s figures, the West accounts for 738 cases per million people (or 31 percent of total infections), according to the Covid Tracking Project.
The Midwest had 722 cases per million yesterday, while the Northeast had 628 and the South had 559 per capita.
More than half of US states have enacted new lockdown restrictions in recent week as hospital intensive care units across fill up in the wake of Thanksgiving celebrations.
COVID-19 infections are still increasing in the US with total cases topping 16million
COVID-19 cases are still increasing nationally with infections last week totaling a record 1.6 million, which is up 15 percent compared to the previous week. Washington, Tennessee and California saw the largest spikes last week. Rhode Island, Tennessee and Ohio are currently seeing the most infections per 100,000
Western states are now outpacing the Midwest with 739 infections per million people. The West alone accounts for 31 percent of all reported cases in the country
Even as the first American healthworkers were given the newly approved Pfizer vaccine yesterday, health officials warned that infections will continue to rise in the coming weeks as families gather for the holiday season.
Dr Anthony Fauci called the rollout of the vaccine a ‘bittersweet moment’ given the rising daily numbers of deaths, cases and hospitalizations.
‘We are still in a terrible situation – the deaths, hospitalizations, the number of cases,’ he told ABC’s Good Morning America.
‘We’re really starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have to get people vaccinated as quickly as we can.
‘We have to adhere to public health measures in order to blunt the acceleration of the numbers we’re seeing every day.’
Sandra Lindsay, an intensive care nurse in New York City, was the first to receive vaccine at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens yesterday during a livestream with New York Gov Andrew Cuomo.
Just hours later, the number of Americans to die from coronavirus amid the pandemic ticked over the 300,000 mark.
Vaccinations continued to roll out throughout the morning with healthcare workers from Ohio to Louisiana rolling up their sleeves to get the shot after shipments of the frozen vaccine vials began to arrive at hospitals across the country.
Healthcare workers are among the first to receive the vaccine. General Gustave Perna, who is in charge of the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed, said vaccinations will start in nursing homes this week.
Dr. Joseph Varon, left, medical staff members Gabriel Cervera Rodriguez, second from left, Elizabeth Gamboa, third from left, and Stephanie, right, perform tracheostomy procedure on a patient in the COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas on Monday as virus hospitalizations soar
Medical staffers watch a screen while performing tracheostomy procedure on a patient in the COVID-19 intensive care unit patient at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas on Monday
A medical staff member Demetra Ransom prepares to draw blood from a patient in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at the United Memorial Medical Center on Monday
Staff members help a newly arriving 81-year-old African American COVID-19 patient get settled into the ICU ward at Roseland Community Hospital on Monday in Chicago, Illinois
In New York City, Lindsay said she felt relief after becoming the first to be given the shot.
‘It didn’t feel any different from taking any other vaccine,’ Lindsay said. ‘I feel hopeful today, relieved. I feel like healing is coming. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history. I want to instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe.’
With a countdown of ‘3-2-1,’ workers at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center gave the first injections to applause.
In New Orleans, Steven Lee, an intensive care unit pharmacist at Ochsner Medical Center, summed up the moment as he got his own vaccination: ‘We can finally prevent the disease as opposed to treating it.’
Other hospitals around the country, from Rhode Island to Texas, unloaded precious frozen vials of vaccine – with staggered deliveries set to continue throughout the day and into today.
‘This is the light at the end of the tunnel. But it’s a long tunnel,’ New York Gov Andrew Cuomo said.
‘New York state did what we believe is the first vaccination in the United States.
‘We have 170,000 dozes from Pfizer, 346,000 from Moderna. We have 90 distribution sites. Today we’re in the process of administering 10,000 vaccines. New York came out of the blocks very quickly and very aggressively. The vaccine only works if we take it.’
The first 2.9 million doses began to be shipped to distribution centers around the country on Sunday from Pfizer’s manufacturing plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The pharmaceutical giant said the first shipments will deliver millions of doses to 64 states, US territories and major cities, as well as five federal agencies.
In the face of surging cases, deaths and hospitalizations, health officials are pinning their hopes of bringing the virus to its knees with a vaccine.
NEW YORK: An intensive care nurse in New York, Sandra Lindsay, is among the first in the country to receive a COVID-19 shot this morning. She was vaccinated at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens just before 9.30am this morning during a livestream with New York Gov Andrew Cuomo
OHIO: Ohio State employee Stacey Boyer receives the Pfizer vaccine in Columbus, Ohio on Monday afternoon (left). CONNECTICUT: Healthcare worker Connor Paleski is given the vaccine outside of Hartford Hospital in Connecticut (right)
KENTUCKY: Dr. Jason Smith receives his COVID-19 vaccination at the University of Louisville Hospital on Monday
FLORIDA: Nurse Vanessa Arroyo gets her vaccine shot at Tampa General Hospital (left)
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar described Monday’s vaccine distribution as ‘historic’ and said he’ll watch frontline health care workers get vaccinated in Washington DC.
‘I’m just excited that I’m going to get to see some frontline health care workers today, as part of the plan to George Washington Hospital vaccination, and get to see them getting vaccinated – some of the first people in the county,’ Azar told NBC’s Today.
Azar predicted that Americans will be able to just go into their pharmacy by late February to get a COVID-19 vaccine, similar to how the flu vaccine is administered.
‘I think we could be seeing that (general public vaccination) by late February going into March. It really, again, is going to be up to our nation’s governors, but with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine, we’ll have, as I said, as many as 100 million shots in arms by the end of February.’
The Trump administration is now rushing to roll out its $250 million vaccination public education campaign – Building Vaccine Confidence – in the same week that the first Americans received initial doses.
The public campaign, which includes a wave of advertisements, will begin this week across the country and is targeting those who are hesitant to take the vaccine but could be persuaded to, the New York Times reports.
It was delayed six weeks after health secretary Azar ordered an internal review following scrutiny from Democrats.
The initial campaign, which Democrats said was propaganda for Trump’s reelection, was supposed to feature celebrities like Dennis Quaid and Billy Ray Cyrus.
Mark Weber, the federal official who is behind the campaign, said it will now be a ‘science-based approach’.
‘This is exciting; the vaccines have been developed in record time,’ he said. ‘But we have to be careful not to generate demand before they are available to the broader public.’
Weber, who has a marketing degree, said the campaign was battling a ‘credibility factor right now’.