Virus surge in US strains hospitals

Washington – After several weeks of rapidly rising coronavirus cases, hospitals around the United States are once again overwhelmed, forcing local authorities to take new measures to cope with the pandemic.

On Wednesday, a record 65 368 people were in the hospital with Covid-19 across the country, marking the second day in a row and second time yet that the tally passed the 60 000 mark, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

Around the country officials were scrambling to staunch the spread. In New York state, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that any establishment with a liquor licence, including bars and restaurants, would have to close at 10pm, beginning today. The rule will also apply to gyms.

New York City was the early epicentre of the nation’s coronavirus pandemic, but hotspots have since popped up across the country, leaving practically no geographical region unaffected.

One such locale is the border city of El Paso in western Texas, a state where coronavirus cases have now exceeded one million.

More than 1 000 people are hospitalised in the county of El Paso alone, a substantial portion of the state’s nearly 6 800 hospitalisations.

“These are dark times,” Ogechika Alozie, chief medical officer at the city’s Del Sol Medical Centre, told CNN on Wednesday.

“I think the biggest word is just fatigue.

“And there’s frustration.” Cases are so high that Texas Governor Greg Abbott has requested a military medical centre be converted for intake of non-Covid-19 patients in order to free up space in hospitals.