VIRUS CASES ON THE RISE IN MOST STATES
Single-day cases in U.S. reach highest level since late July
For the first time since early August, the number of newly reported coronavirus infections in the United States on Thursday topped 60,000. More than 36,000 people are hospitalized nationally with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, amid a long-feared autumnal rise of infections and serious illnesses.
This is not a regional crisis, but instead one that is intensifying almost everywhere in the country. Fortyfour states and the District of Columbia have higher caseloads than in mid-September. The virus is spreading in rural communities in the heartland, far from the coastal cities hammered early in the pandemic.
Wisconsin set a record Thursday when it surpassed 4,000 newly reported cases. Illinois also reported more than 4,000 cases, eclipsing records set during the state’s first wave in April and May. Ohio also set a new high, as did Indiana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Montana, and Colorado. In El Paso, Texas, officials have ordered new restrictions and lockdowns amid a frightening surge.
“We know that this is going to get worse before it gets better,” Wisconsin Department of Health Services secretary-designee Andrea Palm said at a briefing Thursday. “Stay home. Wear a mask. Stay 6 feet apart. Wash your hands frequently.”
Some hospitals in the Upper Midwest and Great Plains have become jammed with patients and are running low on intensive-care-unit beds. On Wednesday, Wisconsin opened a field hospital on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Fair Park outside
Milwaukee and will eventually be able to treat more than 500 patients.
During the past week, at least 20 states have set record seven-day averages for infections, and a dozen have hit record hospitalization rates, according to health department data analyzed by The Washington Post.
After a midsummer spike in the Sun Belt, the country registered a decline in cases in August that bottomed out over the Labor Day weekend — but at a level that experts said was still dangerously high, around 40,000 new cases daily. The reopening of many schools and colleges did not immediately lead to a major spike in cases, as some experts had feared, but the numbers have steadily crept upward.
The increase in cases and hospitalizations since late August has been followed by a more modest rise in COVID-19 deaths. That could ref lect, in part, improved patient care from battle-tested medical workers. The widespread use of powerful steroids and other treatments has lowered
mortality rates among people who are severely ill.
But epidemiologists have repeatedly cautioned that most people remain susceptible to the coronavirus and transmission is likely to be facilitated by colder weather. Not only do people spend more time indoors, but the dry indoor environment is congenial to the spread of respiratory viruses.
On Oct. 3, the national daily case count surpassed 50,000 for the first time since summer. As more data arrived Thursday from health departments, it became clear that the 60,000 milestone would be reached for the first time since Aug. 7, when infections were widespread in the Sun Belt. By late Thursday the daily total of more than 63,500 cases represented the highest number since July 31.
The cumulative number of cases in the United States since the start of the pandemic is likely to surpass 8 million today, according to a Washington Post analysis. The official death toll stood just shy of 217,000 late Thursday.
“Inevitably, we’re mov
ing into a phase where there’s going to need to be restrictions again,” said David Rubin, director of PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its advice on how people should handle the upcoming holidays, saying people at elevated risk of a severe COVID-19 illness — older people and those with chronic conditions — “should not attend in-person holiday celebrations.”
That unhappy message ref lects the concern among epidemiologists about household transmission and the tendency for people to lower their guard around individuals they know best. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said this week in a conference call with governors that Thanksgiving celebrations could spark high viral transmission rates, according to a recording obtained by CNN. “What we’re seeing as the increasing threat right now is actually acquisition of infection through small household gatherings,” Redfield said.