Fear, anxiety spiking over virus
Death toll could hit 318K by start of ’21, projection indicates
About halfof states have seen their highest daily infection numbers so far at some point inOctober.
Preslie Paur breaks down in tears when she thinks of her state’s refusal to mandate face masks.
The South Salt Lake City woman can’t work at her special education job due to an autoimmune disease. Her husband, also a special ed teacher, recently quit because his school district in Utah would not allow him to work remotely to protect her and their 5year-old son, who has asthma.
“I feel forgotten,” Paur said. “We’re living in a world we no longer fit in. We did everything right. We went to college, we got jobs, we tried to give back to our community, and now our community is not giving back to us. And I’m very scared.”
As President Donald Trump barnstorms the swing states, often downplaying the coronavirus pandemic before largely unmasked crowds, the nation continues to lurch toward what his opponent Joe Biden, citing health experts, warned will be a “dark winter” of disease and death.
About half of states have seen their highest daily infection numbers so far at some point in October, and the country as a whole came close to back-to-back record daily infection rates Friday and Saturday.
Data from Johns Hopkins University shows 83,718 new cases were reported Saturday, just shy of the 83,757 infections reported Friday. Before that, the most cases reported in the United States on a single day had been 77,362, on July 16.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, which federal health officials have used as a source for their pandemic projections, forecasts that the U.S. COVID-19 death toll could exceed 318,000 by Jan. 1.
As of Sunday, there were more than 8.6 million confirmed infections in the nation, with over 225,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins.
At least seven states — Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Oklahoma — saw record high infection levels Saturday. And some Northeastern states hit hard in the spring are seeing numbers bounce back; New Jersey’s toll of 1,909 new infections Saturday was the most it had seen in a day since early May.
The virus also is surging in the Mountain West, especially Idaho and Utah.
In Twin Falls, Idaho, new data suggest that 1 in 24 residents has contracted the coronavirus, said Dr. Joshua Kern, vice president of medical affairs at St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center. Amid a crush of cases, the hospital brought in nurses from Boise, scaled back elective surgery and, as of Friday, stopped admitting pediatric patients.
“It’s gotten kind of out of hand,” Kern said. “We’ve had something like a third of our total COVID cases in our community in the last two to three weeks. There are a lot of parts of the state suffering under the same burden.”
Kern said Twin Falls had been lulled into complacency after months of relatively low numbers, adding “going back to school was the signal to our communities that we can get back to normal.”
“It’s like the community said, ‘Oh, good. It’s over. We can party again,’ andwe saw the virus increase,” he said.
In New Mexico, which reported record numbers of additional COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in recent days, more than 350 doctors, nurses and other health care professionals signed a letter imploring residents to stay home as much as possible, wear masks and limit large gatherings to help prevent another wave of “lonely deaths.”
“Please help health care professionals help you,” said the letter, posted on the state Department of Health’s website. “Help us protect you. Help us ensure that we have the resources to treat the sick and care for the dying.”
On Saturday, New Mexico officials reported 875 new cases and five additional deaths, increasing the state’s totals to 41,040 cases and 965 deaths. The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations increased to 264, up froma record 229 on Friday, which topped the previous high of 223 from mid-May.
After months of improvement, parts of Europe are going back into lockdown or ramping up restrictions again amid a spike in infections. Italy imposed at least amonth of new restrictions across the country on Sunday, insisting that people outdoors wear masks, shutting down gyms, pools and movie theaters, and putting an early curfew on cafes and restaurants.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn, who tested positive Wednesday, pleaded with citizens to wear masks as the virus spikes across the country and hospital ICUs are filling up again.
“Please continue to help and don’t listen to those who play down (coronavirus),” he said. “It is serious.”