A nurse cares for a patient in a hospital corridor in Apple Valley, California.
Photo: Mario Tama / Getty Images
The United States on Wednesday reported 3,865 deaths from Covid-19, the highest number of deaths reported in a single day since the pandemic began.
The nation’s death toll rose to more than 364,500 on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University, while the number of infected people exceeded 21.53 million.
The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) forecast that there will be between 405,000 and 438,000 deaths by the end of the month.
ONLY – we can expect 405,000–438,000 in total # COVID-19 deaths in the United States ** only until January 30 ** if current models are valid. However, they do not take into account the more contagious variant B117, with a 40-80% higher transmissibility.
➡️ I think 500,000 by the end of February are possible. pic.twitter.com/XttogiNc49
– Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) January 7, 2021
The previous forecast, published on December 30, projected up to 424,000 deaths by January 23.
The continuing spread of the virus and the growing number of deaths are occurring even as the United States works to distribute vital Covid-19 vaccines, a process that has been criticized for being too slow.
Group recommendations for vaccines are not a requirement
US Surgeon General, Jerome Adamssaid on Thursday that states that it can vaccinate beyond the recommendations of phase 1a, including health workers and residents of long-term care units, they should.
“Not only can states, but they should aggressively expand vaccines to other phases if the current supply exceeds the demand in phase 1a,” the general surgeon said on Twitter.
Meeting with@CDCDirector(…)@HHS_ASHand Tony Fauci.
We want to reiterate that ACIP guidelines are recommendations, not mandates. Not only can states, but they MUST aggressively extend vaccinations to other phases if the current supply exceeds the demand in phase 1a! pic.twitter.com/dKfjcAHmFE
– American Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) January 7, 2021
In an interview with NPR, Dr. Anthony Fauci said this the launch of the vaccine still takes a few weeks to catch up with previous projections. But if that doesn’t happen, he says, “then we really need to make some changes to what we’re doing.”
Nearly 6 million people received their first dose of coronavirus vaccines, the CDC reported, and another 21.4 million doses were distributed.
This is too short of what was promised: federal government’s Operation Warp Speed officials had previously promised that 40 million doses would be distributed by the end of December and that 20 million would be vaccinated.
California is suffering a disaster in its hospitals
Hospitals continue to be flooded with coronavirus patients, registering 132,476 admitted patients, the Covid Tracking project reported on Wednesday.
At the epicenter of the virus is California, a state that has been among several reports of record hospitalizations, increased deaths and health care systems struggling to keep up with demand.
On Wednesday, there were 459 new deaths caused by coronavirus and a record 22,820 patients treated in hospitals for the virus, reported the California Department of Public Health.
More than 8,000 patients are hospitalized in Los Angeles County, where the emergency medical system is under great pressure, the health department said.
Until Thursday, one person dies from Covid-19 in Los Angeles County every 8 minutes.