First, Theresa Pirozzi’s 85-year-old father fell ill and was taken to a hospital by ambulance. Days later her mother was so weak she could barely walk.
Now, instead of preparing for Christmas, Pirozzi eagerly awaits what the staff at the hospital where her parents are being treated for coronavirus in an intensive care unit will tell her.
‘I’m not putting any decorations here. It’s not okay now, ”Pirozzi said from his parents’ house in Oak Park, California. “I am physically ill with worry.”
The pair is representative of the crisis deepening at an alarming rate in California, where hospitals are on the verge of the incessant rise of infections in the state.
Nearly 17,000 people were hospitalized Friday for confirmed or possible COVID-19 infections, and according to a model based on the latest data to project future trends, the number in the state would rise to a whopping 75,000 by mid-January.
Leading the way in California’s 48,000 new cases, the United States added a record 249,709 COVID-19 patients to the total in one day, according to Johns Hopkins University on Saturday. The national death toll is higher than 315,000.
Texas, Florida, New York, and Tennessee each had more than 10,400 new cases. In the past two weeks, the seven-day average of new cases in the United States has risen to 219,324 per day, from the previous average of 183,787, an increase of nearly 20%.
The contamination increased before Thanksgiving and increased due to the gatherings for the celebration. Health authorities now fear the increase will worsen over Christmas and New Year.
In many places, people are ignoring suggested precautions because they are tired of wearing a mask and keeping a social distance, health authorities said.
While federal authorities have authorized the use of two COVID-19 vaccines and doses have already been applied to thousands of people, mostly health sector personnel, the widespread inoculation of the general public is expected to take place beyond the spring.
Several state governments have indicated that the federal government has told them shipments of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccines next week will be fewer than initially planned.
The military general responsible for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States, Gustave Perna, apologized Saturday for the “lack of communication” with the states about the number of doses to be delivered in the early stages. of distribution. .
Of the more than 272,000 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine administered on Saturday morning, federal health authorities said they had reported six cases of serious allergic reactions. One of six people had a history of adverse reactions to vaccines, they said.