Deputy Mayor Alix Desulme, North Miami, raises his arm during a prayer for lost local life in front of COVID-19, as a memorial for the lost is unveiled at Griffing Park on October 28, 2020 in North Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
More than 4,000 people died of Covid-19 in the United States in one day, for the first time on Thursday, as the country reports a record number, and the outbreak becomes more severe every day.
The United States reported a record number of daily deaths in five of the past 10 days, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. In the last week, the US reported an average of more than 2,700 deaths a day, up 16% from a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of Hopkins data.
Nearly 20,000 people in the country died of Covid in January alone, setting the pace for a month that will likely rival December for the deadliest month of the pandemic.
Senior health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warn that the outbreak is likely to worsen before it improves.
“We believe things will get worse as we enter January,” Fauci said in an interview with NPR on Thursday. He said Americans can still “cut that acceleration” if they strictly adhere to public health measures, such as wearing masks and social distance.
As of Thursday, cases were still growing rapidly, a sign that more deaths would follow as people were diagnosed, became ill and entered hospitals, many of whom are overwhelmed by the growing number of patients with Covid. The United States reported more than 274,700 new cases on Thursday, bringing the seven-day average to a new all-time high of 228,400, according to Hopkins data.
New daily cases are growing almost everywhere. The average number of new cases daily increases by at least 5% in 44 states and the District of Columbia. New deaths are rising especially rapidly in Southern California, where health workers are rationing for extra oxygen and asking ambulances to wait hours before leaving patients.
Cases and hospitalizations are also rising rapidly in Arizona, and, according to Hopkins, a sign that new daily deaths could soon catch up. The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Thursday that it is setting up an infusion center to help administer Covid antibody treatments, which have shown promise in preventing hospitalization if used early in the infection.
With the outbreak becoming more severe, many Americans across the country are waiting to receive one of the authorized vaccines that are now being launched. The initial launch was slow, with the United States failing to reach its goal of vaccinating 20 million Americans in December, as federal officials had set out to do.
However, federal officials, including Dr. Fauci and Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the pace is likely to increase this month. The launch has already shown some signs of a slow increase in speed.
The United States administered more than 600,000 photos in 24 hours, the CDC reported Thursday. This is the most in a day so far, according to CDC data. More than 21.4 million doses were distributed, according to the CDC, but only 5.9 million were administered.
Amid criticism of the slow initial launch, HHS officials are now urging states to move beyond the first level of priority setting. Healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities should receive the vaccine first, according to the CDC. But HHS Secretary Alex Azar said earlier this week that the states should open up to more old and vulnerable Americans if it is to speed up the launch.
It also adds to the pressure to vaccinate quickly and the arrival of a new variant of the virus. The new variant, known as B.1.1.7, which was first discovered in the United Kingdom, has now been found in at least seven states. Although it does not appear to cause people to become seriously ill, CDC officials say they believe it is spreading more easily. This could make the outbreak even worse and overwhelm hospitals quickly, CDC officials said last week.