Virus hospitalizations surge in some states amid election
Americans went to the polls Tuesday under the shadowof a resurging pandemic, with an alarming increase in cases nationwide and the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 reaching record highs in a growing number of states.
While daily infections were rising in all but three states, the surge was most pronounced in the Midwest and Southwest.
Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and New Mexico all reported record high hospitalizations this week. Nebraska’s largest hospitals started limiting elective surgeries and looked to bring in nurses fromother states to cope with the surge. Hospital officials in Iowa and Missouri warned bed capacity could soon be overwhelmed. While many Americans took advantage of expanded access to mail-in voting, lines were long in many polling places, with record turnout expected and reminders of the pandemic were everywhere.
“It’s very serious that we have 400 people gathered in one space at the height of the pandemic here in Wisconsin. So, we’ve tried to take every measure to limit the movement throughout the room,” said Claire Wood-all-Vogg, the election commission director of the city of Milwaukee, where poll workers were spreadout into 12 different pods to limit contact.
Wisconsin health officials reported 5,771 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, a new record.
In Indiana, the Republican candidate for attorney general tested positive for COVID-19 after developing “some symptoms,” his campaign announced Tuesday. Former U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita had been quarantining with his family after learning he was exposed to the virus, it said.
Hand sanitizer on voters’ hands caused a ballot scanner to jam at a polling place in Des Moines, Iowa, secretary of state spokesman Kevin Hall said.
Meanwhile, Iowa hospital officials warned their facilities and staff could be overwhelmed without serious efforts to curtail the virus spread. The state’s seven-day rolling average of positive cases reached 36.4 percent over the weekend, the third-highest in the nation behind South Dakota and Wyoming, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Hospitalizations reached a record 730 on Monday.
Suresh Gunasekaran, CEO of University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, said Iowa is entering its third peak, one that is higher than previous ones in May and July.
“The infection rate is definitely a leading indicator for hospitalizations, and the hospitalization rate is a leading indicator of mortality,” Gunasekaran said.
The virus has killed more than 232,000 people in the U.S., and total cases have surpassed 9million. The seven-day rolling average for deaths from COVID-19 has risen over the past two weeks from about 58,424 on Oct. 19 to 83,805 on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers.