U.S. on brink of rampant coronavirus spread, Europe hospitals strained

By Maria Caspani and Bart H. Meijer

 

Aerial view of people in their vehicles entering and exiting a drive-thru testing site in the parking lot of Miller Park as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., October 21, 2020. Photo taken with a drone. REUTERS/Bing Guan

 

NEW YORK/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Nearly two-thirds of U.S. states were in a danger zone of coronavirus spread and six, including election battleground Wisconsin, reported a record one-day increase in COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday while the pandemic's resurgence in Europe strained hospitals.

 

Coronavirus deaths hit fresh daily records in Hawaii, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana and Wisconsin, a state that also reported a record daily increase in new cases together with Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio, according to a Reuters analysis.

 

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers announced that a field hospital in the Milwaukee suburbs admitted its first COVID-19 patient since it opened last week.

 

"Folks, please stay home," Evers said. "Help us protect our communities from this highly contagious virus and avoid further strain on our hospitals."

 

European case numbers, which were brought largely under control by the unprecedented lockdowns in March and April are also surging, and authorities in countries from Poland to Portugal expressed mounting alarm at the renewed crisis confronting their health infrastructure.

 

Belgium, struggling with what its health minister called a "tsunami" of infections, is postponing all non-essential hospital procedures, and similar measures are looming in other countries.

 

"If the rhythm of the past week continues, rescheduling and suspending some non-priority activities will become unavoidable," said Julio Pascual, medical director at Barcelona's Hospital del Mar.

 

A Belgian official said another lockdown could be imposed as soon as next week in the country, which has one of the world's highest fatality rates per capita.

 

In the United States, President Donald Trump has repeatedly opposed re-imposing restrictions, saying economic recovery depended on people being able to return to normal life.

 

The coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 221,000 people in the United States and thrown millions out of work, has taken a toll on Trump's re-election prospects. Negotiations on a new package of coronavirus economic aid have dragged on and a deal appeared unlikely before the Nov. 3 election.

 

Thirty-two of 50 states have entered a danger zone with more than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past week, and nationally the case rate has reached its highest level since a peak in July, Reuters found.

 

A block of states in the Midwest and Mountain regions from Idaho to Illinois were a red zone along with Alaska, denoting rapidly rising infection.

 

Nationally, cases have been trending higher for five weeks, rising to 60,000 on average over the past seven days from a recent low of 35,000 a day in mid-September.

 

U.S. public health experts have warned for months that a premature rollback of social-distancing policies and politicizing the wearing of masks could trigger a resurgence of infections.

 

'EXPLOSIVE GROWTH' SEEN

"We are not far from the period of exponential, explosive growth of #covid19 in the U.S.," said Dr. Leana Wen, former Baltimore health commissioner, on Twitter.

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday tightened its definition of "close contact" exposure that puts an individual at risk, a standard that triggers contact tracing and could have an impact on schools and workplaces.

 

Rather than spending 15 minutes at once within 6 feet (1.8 meters) of an infected person to be considered close contact, the agency said the definition is now 15 minutes over 24 hours.

 

Similar to Europe, the spike in U.S. cases raised fears hospitals could become overwhelmed.

 

Dutch health authorities said that if the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital wards continues to grow, three-quarters of regular care may have to be scrapped by the end of November, and there were similar warnings from Czech authorities.

 

"We have hit a wall on clinical beds," said Wouter van der Horst, spokesman for the Dutch hospital association NVZ.

 

German Health Minister Jens Spahn tested positive, as did Brazilian Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello. 

 

To complicate Europe's situation, widespread coronavirus fatigue and the frightening economic impact of the crisis have eroded broad public support for the lockdowns ordered earlier in the year to stop health services from being overwhelmed.

 

Unwilling to shut down their countries again, governments have sought less drastic measures to limit public gatherings and balance the need to keep their economies turning with holding back the pandemic.

 

According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Europe has registered more than 5 million cases and 200,000 deaths, with new cases beginning to spike sharply from the end of September.

 

While well below levels at the peak of the crisis six months ago, COVID-19 hospital admissions and occupancy are again high - defined as at least 25% of the peak of the pandemic - or rising in 20 countries, its latest weekly summary said last week.

 

Authorities in Lombardy, the Italian region at the center of the earlier wave, on Wednesday ordered the reopening of special temporary intensive care units set up in Milan and Bergamo that were shut down earlier in the year when case numbers receded.

 

Already, a number of regional health authorities in Germany, one of the countries that dealt with the first wave most effectively, have agreed to take in intensive care patients from other countries.

 

On Wednesday, authorities in Ireland, where the five-day case average has tripled since the start of October, said there were no longer enough officials to keep its contact-tracing system working.

 

(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by James Mackenzie and Cynthia Osterman; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Lisa Shumaker)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-10-22

 

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Meanwhile we have trump having super spreader events on a daily basis it’s unbelievable 

Trump is going down

Whaddaya wanna bet the US numbers change significantly after the first week in November?

 

Let it do its thing, I say. Trillions spent to what effect? Deleted Canute springs to mind. Yeah, I could probably die, being 60+ and a smoker; my father 90+, could probably definitely die, what's that Hamlet quote  - 

 

"Hamlet, you are so sweet and such a good son to mourn your father like this. But you have to remember, that your father lost his father, who lost his father before him, and every time, each son has had to mourn his father for a certain period. But overdoing it is just stubborn."

 

At least it's a practise run for the real thing. That's about the only good thing I can say about the current response. The collateral damage far outweighs the risk, IMHO. Why governments are overreacting is beyond my ken, no doubt it's some kind of mass hysteria thing. 

30 minutes ago, nausea said:

Let it do its thing, I say. Trillions spent to what effect? Deleted Canute springs to mind. Yeah, I could probably die, being 60+ and a smoker; my father 90+, could probably definitely die, what's that Hamlet quote  - 

 

"Hamlet, you are so sweet and such a good son to mourn your father like this. But you have to remember, that your father lost his father, who lost his father before him, and every time, each son has had to mourn his father for a certain period. But overdoing it is just stubborn."

 

At least it's a practise run for the real thing. That's about the only good thing I can say about the current response. The collateral damage far outweighs the risk, IMHO. Why governments are overreacting is beyond my ken, no doubt it's some kind of mass hysteria thing. 

 

Reluctantly, I agree. The pity is the US never constructed its own strategy for dealing with COVID. Instead, they mindlessly copied China. Who in their right mind ever thought an open, free country could respond to a virus in the same way as a country that welded people into their apartment complexes and hauled off anyone so much as out to buy food to a Chinese dungeon? To what effect? It seems clear that no matter what, this virus is going to run its course. And God knows what has actually, truly happened in China. 

8 minutes ago, John Drake said:

 

Reluctantly, I agree. The pity is the US never constructed its own strategy for dealing with COVID. Instead, they mindlessly copied China. Who in their right mind ever thought an open, free country could respond to a virus in the same way as a country that welded people into their apartment complexes and hauled off anyone so much as out to buy food to a Chinese dungeon? To what effect? It seems clear that no matter what, this virus is going to run its course. And God knows what has actually, truly happened in China. 

 

If only the US had copied China, a government far more capable to deal with the pandemic.  China is virtually Covid-free now and their economy rebounded 4.9% in the 3rd quarter compared to Q3 2019. 

 

Per statista.com, Covid deaths to date:

 

China  4739

US  220,218

 

China is currently in the process of testing 9 million people in the city of Chengdao.  The US still lacks sufficient tests, PPE, test processing capacity, etc.

 

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104709/coronavirus-deaths-worldwide-per-million-inhabitants/ 

3 hours ago, Tug said:

Meanwhile we have trump having super spreader events on a daily basis it’s unbelievable 

Yes. The media have taught us that Covid thrives in any gathering of conservatives or religious people. The only time humans appear to be immune is when they are crowded together at social justice riots and undocumented shopping events. We must encourage more of this regardless of who is elected in November.

 

1 hour ago, cmarshall said:

China is virtually Covid-free now and their economy rebounded 4.9% in the 3rd quarter compared to Q3 2019.

Yes. The economy of China is solid and the information they provide to the rest of the world is completely trustworthy. The Chinese are a decent, honest, straightforward, and selfless people.

 

<deleted>......I thought it was a hoax........what's happening now?

3 hours ago, John Drake said:

 

Reluctantly, I agree. The pity is the US never constructed its own strategy for dealing with COVID. Instead, they mindlessly copied China. Who in their right mind ever thought an open, free country could respond to a virus in the same way as a country that welded people into their apartment complexes and hauled off anyone so much as out to buy food to a Chinese dungeon? To what effect? It seems clear that no matter what, this virus is going to run its course. And God knows what has actually, truly happened in China. 

If they copied China, it would be such a mess as it is now.

1 hour ago, donnacha said:

Yes. The economy of China is solid and the information they provide to the rest of the world is completely trustworthy. The Chinese are a decent, honest, straightforward, and selfless people.

 

That s not at all what he said...  You just deflect...

 

Let s say it this way, the chinese government is dishonnest and no one trust the number coming from them, but it is obvious that their way of treating the virus has been by far better than the way it has been treated in the west especially in the US. China is almost covid free today and people go on with their life, economy is back on, not only the stock market, that s very different from what we see in Europe and in the US. You can criticize China without becoming blind to facts.

 

1 hour ago, donnacha said:

Yes. The media have taught us that Covid thrives in any gathering of conservatives or religious people. The only time humans appear to be immune is when they are crowded together at social justice riots and undocumented shopping events. We must encourage more of this regardless of who is elected in November.

 

What are you talking about? Covid thrives when idiots get together without social distancing and without masks, which is what Trump fans, and religious people do.

 

4 hours ago, cmarshall said:

 

If only the US had copied China, a government far more capable to deal with the pandemic.  China is virtually Covid-free now and their economy rebounded 4.9% in the 3rd quarter compared to Q3 2019. 

 

Per statista.com, Covid deaths to date:

 

China  4739

US  220,218

 

China is currently in the process of testing 9 million people in the city of Chengdao.  The US still lacks sufficient tests, PPE, test processing capacity, etc.

 

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104709/coronavirus-deaths-worldwide-per-million-inhabitants/ 

It could never happen though could it? Americans unlike the Chinese would never in a million years accept a perceived loss in their individual freedom. Restricting people as severely as China does would result in serious confrontations across the USA.

We are having similar problems in the UK, but thankfully our idiots don't have automatic weapons.

Thee biggest problem in the US is not the Corona Virus its the total ignorance of at least 30% of the population who listen to Trumps bulls!!t. The other problem is the idiots who believe the numbers are fictitious. Amazingly they believe other numbers put out by the President which are obviously propaganda and far from the truth.

They must live in total isolation as 225,000+ dead  cannot be hidden, the only way the will comes to terms with the facts is if they or their family fall victims to the virus. We would not wish that on anybody but even Trump with all his protection fell to the Democratic hoax.

9 hours ago, impulse said:

Whaddaya wanna bet the US numbers change significantly after the first week in November?

 

Sure because the entire world is reporting false results to ensure that Trump loses the election.

56 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Sure because the entire world is reporting false results to ensure that Trump loses the election.

It would be hilarious, and well worth it, if it was true though.

7 hours ago, thaichina said:

That s not at all what he said...  You just deflect...

 

Let s say it this way, the chinese government is dishonnest and no one trust the number coming from them, but it is obvious that their way of treating the virus has been by far better than the way it has been treated in the west especially in the US. China is almost covid free today and people go on with their life, economy is back on, not only the stock market, that s very different from what we see in Europe and in the US. You can criticize China without becoming blind to facts.

 

 

What are you talking about? Covid thrives when idiots get together without social distancing and without masks, which is what Trump fans, and religious people do.

 

And it's much worse when the gatherings are indoors. Like in church, or at the White House.

2 hours ago, placeholder said:

12 hours ago, impulse said:

Whaddaya wanna bet the US numbers change significantly after the first week in November?

Sure because the entire world is reporting false results to ensure that Trump loses the election.

 

You did notice that I referred to the US numbers? 

 

Which even most 4th graders can clearly see are much different than numbers in most of the world...

 

Could be the nice bonus that US hospitals are being paid to deal with Covid victims.  Could be Big Pharma smelling huge money for coming up with a solution to the scourge- and the bigger the scourge, the bigger the money. 

 

Or, it could be election year hijinks.  We'll see...

 

 

2 minutes ago, impulse said:

Oops.  Double post.  New format and not enough coffee.

 

24 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

You did notice that I referred to the US numbers? 

 

Which even most 4th graders can clearly see are much different than numbers in most of the world...

 

Could be the nice bonus that US hospitals are being paid to deal with Covid victims.  Could be Big Pharma smelling huge money for coming up with a solution to the scourge- and the bigger the scourge, the bigger the money. 

 

Or, it could be election year hijinks.  We'll see...

 

 

Or could be the lousy US public health system which has been repeatedly rated almost the worst  system among all the economically developed nations.

3 hours ago, impulse said:

 

You did notice that I referred to the US numbers? 

 

Which even most 4th graders can clearly see are much different than numbers in most of the world...

 

Could be the nice bonus that US hospitals are being paid to deal with Covid victims.  Could be Big Pharma smelling huge money for coming up with a solution to the scourge- and the bigger the scourge, the bigger the money. 

 

Or, it could be election year hijinks.  We'll see...

 

 

Even a 4th grader would understand that when the number of excess deaths is much higher than the official Covid-19 deaths, Covid-19 deaths are not overcounted.

"The raw death counts help give us a rough sense of scale: for example, the US suffered some 275,000 more deaths than the five-year average between 1 March and 16 August, compared to 169,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths during that period."

https://ourworldindata.org/excess-mortality-covid

 

But don't let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory! ????

U.S. on brink of rampant coronavirus spread

 

Anticipating the DT response.

First he'll say this is fake news from the communist-Nazi-[insert whatever he may suddenly come up with] media.

 

A few minutes, or hours, or days later he'll say "it's all Fauci's fault."

 

No crystal ball required.

 

 

Troll post removed.

 

Deaths in the US have been steady and declining since June.  I guess this story is assuming a change in that (aka the sky is going to fall LOL)?  Yet to be seen in the data.  Like i tell my workers every day, in God I trust, all others must bring data. ????

52 minutes ago, RoadWarrior371 said:

Deaths in the US have been steady and declining since June.  I guess this story is assuming a change in that (aka the sky is going to fall LOL)?  Yet to be seen in the data.  Like i tell my workers every day, in God I trust, all others must bring data. ????

Interesting that you expect data but post none to back up your assertion.  

 

1 hour ago, Credo said:

Interesting that you expect data but post none to back up your assertion.  

 

Public information folks.  Stop letting the media spoon-feed you. 

 

https://covidtracking.com/data/charts/us-daily-deaths

 

9 minutes ago, RoadWarrior371 said:

Public information folks.  Stop letting the media spoon-feed you. 

 

https://covidtracking.com/data/charts/us-daily-deaths

 

The graph demonstrates Covid deaths are currently trending higher

5 minutes ago, RoadWarrior371 said:

Public information folks.  Stop letting the media spoon-feed you. 

 

https://covidtracking.com/data/charts/us-daily-deaths

 

Thanks for the link. Actually the death rate has been holding steady for quite a while and it looks like it's starting to head back up again in accordance with predictions from epidemiologists. Which is to be expected given that people will be spending more time indoors. And do you notice how the death rate shot up starting in late June after many states relaxed their enforcement in keeping with Trump's exhortations? And do you remember how the right was celebrating Ron DeSantis for the lax measures he was taking and claiming it was proof that the danger of Covid-19 was exaggerated? And do you recall how many governors had to reverse the relaxation after the number of  deaths and hospitalizations shot up?

6 minutes ago, simple1 said:

The graph demonstrates Covid deaths are currently trending higher

 

Not "Rampant".  Good job proving my point. 

3 minutes ago, RoadWarrior371 said:

 

Not "Rampant".  Good job proving my point. 

Hardly, the rise is increasing precipitously, the number of states, 41 with significant increases and dangerously high hospitalization rates is rampant.  The topic is about the increase in coronavirus cases, not deaths, but don't worry death rates rise after an increase in cases.