With election looming, U.S. faces record surge of coronavirus cases

[rooster59]

With election looming, U.S. faces record surge of coronavirus cases

By Lisa Shumaker and David Morgan

 

A sign for a COVID-19 drive-thru testing site alongside US Highway 12 is seen as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, U.S., October 23, 2020. REUTERS/Bing Guan

 

(Reuters) - A record surge of coronavirus cases in the United States is pushing hospitals to the brink of capacity and killing up to 1,000 people a day, the latest figures showed, as the country's attention turns toward Tuesday's presidential election.

 

The United States recorded its 9 millionth case on Friday, nearly 3% of the population, with almost 229,000 dead since the outbreak of the pandemic early this year, according to a Reuters tally of publicly reported data.

 

The country broke its single-day record for new coronavirus infections on Thursday, reporting at least 91,248 new cases, according the tally. The accelerating pace of infections continued as data trickled in on Friday, with 12 states reporting a record number of new daily cases.

 

Serious cases of COVID-19 were on the rise as well, as hospitals in six states reported having the most patients suffering from the disease since the pandemic started. The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has risen over 50% in October to 46,000, the highest since mid-August.

 

Among the hard-hit states are those most hotly contested in the campaign between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden, such as Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

 

For the third time this month, more than 1,000 people died of the virus on Thursday, and the pace of fatal cases is expected to continue rising.

 

The University of Washington's newly updated model projects the death toll, which had been holding at a monthly pace of just over 22,000 for most of October, will start climbing next month toward a new record of more than 72,000 in January.

 

The January projection by the university's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation would eclipse the nearly 61,000 fatalities in April when the pandemic first exploded in the United States and overwhelmed hospitals in New York City.

 

"Our hospitals cannot keep up with Utah's infection rate. You deserve to understand the dire situation we face," Utah Governor Gary Herbert said on Twitter, echoing officials in other states and public health experts.

 

'NOT QUITE PREPARED'

 

Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, Rhode Island, said the country lacks adequate testing as the infections erupt in different parts of the country.

 

"We are having some of the largest outbreaks that we've had during the entire pandemic," Jha told Reuters in an interview. "And nine, 10 months into this pandemic, we are still largely not quite prepared,"

 

The pandemic remains a political football across the country, including in El Paso, Texas, where the mayor refused to comply with an order by the county's top executive to shut down non-essential businesses, as infections rise and hospital capacity is stretched.

 

Mayor Dee Margo, noting that he had already reduced the capacity at which businesses may operate, cited 32,000 jobless people and 148,000 relying on food banks in his city of 700,000.

 

"Struggling families should not have to choose between following rules and putting food on the table,” he said at a press conference.

 

The county executive, Judge Ricardo Samaniego, said in a statement that he was pursuing legal options to enforce his two-week shutdown order.

 

Trump has repeatedly played down the virus, saying for weeks that the country is "rounding the turn," even as new cases and hospitalizations soared. He maintained his upbeat tone in a tweet on Friday, saying the country was doing much better than Europe had in confronting the pandemic.

 

Biden and fellow Democrats in Congress have criticized the president for his handling of the health crisis.

 

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats released a report on Friday condemning the Trump administration's pandemic response as being "among the worst failures of leadership in American history." At least 6 million Americans have been thrust into poverty and millions more are jobless, it said.

 

The 71-page interim report by Democratic staff of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis also said investigators identified more than 60 instances in which Trump administration officials overruled or sidelined top scientists to advance the president's political interests.

 

"The administration's response to this economic crisis has benefited larger companies and wealthy Americans, while leaving behind many disadvantaged communities and struggling small businesses," the report said.

 

After his hospitalization with COVID-19 in early October, Trump resumed the large campaign rallies that draw thousands of supporters packed together, many not wearing masks. The Trump campaign says the rallies are safe and that masks and social distancing are encouraged.

 

A CNN investigation found that 14 out of 17 counties surveyed showed an increased rate of new COVID-19 cases one month after hosting Trump rallies.

 

The report, which presented the health data without drawing a causal link, studied counties in 13 states including election battlegrounds of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida.

 

(Reporting by Lisa Shumaker, David Morgan, Aleksandra Michalska, Doina Chiacu; Writing by Daniel Trotta and Peter Szekely; Editing by Frances Kerry, Howard Goller and Cynthia Osterman)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-10-31

 

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[Pattaya Spotter]

I think it's pretty clear, and China has shown, that the only way to get a handle on the  virus is a large scale complete lockdown of the population and shutdown of all non-essential economic and social activity for a 2-3 month period. The question is whether there is the political and social will in the America's and Europe to do this...so far there hasn't been and the virus is running unabated.

Edited October 31, 2020 by Pattaya Spotter

[FritsSikkink]

Anyone who votes for a guy who says he has the pandemic under control can't be taken seriously.

[Eric Loh]

20 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

I think it's pretty clear, and China has shown, that the only way to get a handle on the  virus is a large scale complete lockdown of the population and shutdown of all non-essential economic and social activity for a 2-3 month period. The question is whether there is the political and social will in the America's and Europe to do this...so far there hasn't been and the virus is running unabated.

IMO the world has learn a lot on how to handle Covid-19 and a draconian China style lockdown can be avoided to control the virus. Most countries that succeeded in controlling the virus adopted strategies that incorporated early detection, testing, contact tracing, social distancing and mask. Even China has moved away from complete lockdown recently when cases were detected in Qingdao and preferred mass testing and tracing. All said leadership is important and sadly missing in US at the moment. 

[RanongCat]

Mr Trump denies and lies while America dies. Do dead peoples votes get counted?

[Pattaya Spotter]

19 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Most countries that succeeded in controlling the virus adopted strategies that incorporated early detection, testing, contact tracing, social distancing and mask.

That was the vaunted European approach and it has clearly failed. Because there is little to no virus in China, when cases are found, they can now use less draconian measures to control it.

[AbeNormal]

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

With election looming, U.S. faces record surge of coronavirus cases

 

detections might be going up but more significantly death rates remain flat which is very good news indeed

[polpott]

1 hour ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

I think it's pretty clear, and China has shown, that the only way to get a handle on the  virus is a large scale complete lockdown of the population and shutdown of all non-essential economic and social activity for a 2-3 month period. The question is whether there is the political and social will in the America's and Europe to do this...so far there hasn't been and the virus is running unabated.

In Europe there has been and it looks like it will be again.

 

The US needs a president who cares about the people not just his bank balance to get on top of Covid.

[Pattaya Spotter]

2 minutes ago, polpott said:

In Europe there has been and it looks like it will be again.

 

The US needs a president who cares about the people not just his bank balance to get on top of Covid.

The European lockdowns are only partial, with many exceptions; that's why they failed the first time and will likely again. Not sure what Trump's bank balance has to do with Covid...I'll just put it down to a typical anti-Trump non-sequiter. 

[simple1]

25 minutes ago, AbeNormal said:

read my above post

 

also per capita the US is doing better than most

 

maybe you should check the data before posting nonsense

 

US is currently tracking 4th worldwide for number of deaths per 100,000 from Covid. Yesterday new infections were just under 90k for the day - not a good look for Covid management by the wealthiest country in the world

[polpott]

17 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

The European lockdowns are only partial, with many exceptions; that's why they failed the first time and will likely again. Not sure what Trump's bank balance has to do with Covid...I'll just put it down to a typical anti-Trump non-sequiter. 

Not true. Several European countries had complete lockdowns. The UK lockdown wasn't as severe and a bit late but still managed to get deaths down to single figures and new cases below 600/day by early July. It was extremely effective in Europe.

[Pattaya Spotter]

1 minute ago, polpott said:

Not true. Several European countries had complete lockdowns. The UK lockdown wasn't as severe and a bit late but still managed to get deaths down to single figures and new cases below 600/day by early July. It was extremely effective in Europe.

There was pretty good success from the first lockdown but the re-opening afterwards during the Summer was completely insane. I count the lockdown and re-opening as part of a single coronavirus control event. The fact the virus has come roaring back in Europe (and not in Asia) shows their entire virus control efforts to have been ineffective. 

[polpott]

Just now, Pattaya Spotter said:

There was pretty good success from the first lockdown but the re-opening afterwards during the Summer was completely insane. I count the lockdown and re-opening as part of a single coronavirus control event. The fact the virus has come roaring back in Europe (and not in Asia) shows their entire virus control efforts to have been ineffective. 

The virus came back for 2 reasons, the lockdowns were lifted too soon and too rapidly and the borders were opened up.

 

Thailand didn't even start to ease the lockdown until they had reached zero cases and zero deaths for over a month. Masks and distancing remain in force and the borders are still closed, hence no resurgence.

[Pattaya Spotter]

4 minutes ago, polpott said:

The virus came back for 2 reasons, the lockdowns were lifted too soon and too rapidly and the borders were opened up.

That's what I said.

 

5 minutes ago, polpott said:

 

Thailand didn't even start to ease the lockdown until they had reached zero cases and zero deaths for over a month. Masks and distancing remain in force and the borders are still closed, hence no resurgence.

That's what I said an effective response looks like.

[polpott]

Just now, Pattaya Spotter said:

That's what I said.

 

That's what I said an effective response looks like.

So why doesn't the US do the same?

[Pattaya Spotter]

19 minutes ago, simple1 said:

 

US is currently tracking 4th worldwide for number of deaths per 100,000 from Covid. Yesterday new infections were just under 90k for the day - not a good look for Covid management by the wealthiest country in the world

I don't think a country's relative wealth has any bearing on how well their virus response is and how well they control it. The degree of social trust and cultural factors are much more important. 

[Pattaya Spotter]

3 minutes ago, polpott said:

So why doesn't the US do the same?

China, and much of Asia, operate on a much more authoritarian model wherein draconian steps to stop virus spread can easily be taken by governments. There is also much more emphasis on the rights of society as a whole as opposed to individual rights in Asia, so people are more willing to take individual actions to help the whole of society (like wearing masks) which help control the virus. In the West (U.S. & Europe) it's exactly the opposite on both counts and therefore they've both failed to control the virus. The Western model of society is at a distinct disadvantage in fighting this (or any) pandemic than the Asian model...this is just a fact.

[polpott]

5 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

The degree of social trust and cultural factors are much more important. 

Are you saying that Americans are morons and they don't trust Trump? Harsh.

[polpott]

1 minute ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

China, and much of Asia, operate on a much more authoritarian model wherein draconian steps to stop virus spread can easily be taken by governments. There is also much more emphasis on the rights of society as a whole as opposed to individual rights in Asia, so people are more willing to take individual actions to help the whole of society (like wearing masks) which help control the virus. In the West (U.S. & Europe) it's exactly the opposite on both counts and therefore they've both failed to control the virus. The Western model of society is at a distinct disadvantage in fighting this (or any) pandemic than the Asian model...this is just a fact.

Don't judge all Western nations by the US.

[simple1]

36 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

I don't think a country's relative wealth has any bearing on how well their virus response is and how well they control it. The degree of social trust and cultural factors are much more important. 

 

Sure, contributing factors for which trump is an utter loser

[RJRS1301]

2 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

IMO the world has learn a lot on how to handle Covid-19 and a draconian China style lockdown can be avoided to control the virus. Most countries that succeeded in controlling the virus adopted strategies that incorporated early detection, testing, contact tracing, social distancing and mask. Even China has moved away from complete lockdown recently when cases were detected in Qingdao and preferred mass testing and tracing. All said leadership is important and sadly missing in US at the moment. 

UUM yes, but>> Mr "It is under control and it will just go disappear" did not want to take any of the steps you mentioned. He said he knew what was best.

 

[Lacessit]

here you are:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

USA 709 deaths per million population, up there with the worst. 3 million active cases, it was 2.5 million only two weeks ago.

Australia 35  deaths per million population, 1,359 active cases. Our gene pool is very similar to yours.

The only difference is we didn't run around like chooks with our heads cut off, or believe a sociopath whose only interest is getting re-elected. He's criss-crossing the country holding petri dish rallies, what the hell do you expect?

Edited October 31, 2020 by onthedarkside
quote of removed post deleted

[RJRS1301]

1 hour ago, polpott said:

So why doesn't the US do the same?

Two words: President Trump.

Also lack of any social cohesion, and the great divide of ideologies 

[Pattaya Spotter]

28 minutes ago, simple1 said:

 

Sure, contributing factors for which trump is an utter loser

I know you want to make everything about "the Orange Bad-Man" but believe it or not, there was an America before Trump and the social mistrust and anger preceeded him. There is also America's ethos of rugged individualism and vaunted freedom of expression that makes taking collective society-wide actions to control a viral pandemic difficult, no matter who is president. If Biden is elected president, you will see that despite whatever actions he may take, virus numbers and deaths won't substantially change until there are effective vaccines and/or treatments.

Edited October 31, 2020 by Pattaya Spotter

[Pattaya Spotter]

26 minutes ago, simple1 said:

 

Sure, contributing factors for which trump is an utter loser

Seeing how the virus has come roaring back, I guess all the leaders of Europe are "utter losers" too (funny how I never see this on the Forum).

[Lacessit]

Just now, Pattaya Spotter said:

I know you want to make everything about "the Orange Bad-Man" but believe it or not, there was an America before Trump and the social mistrust and anger preceeded him. There is also America's ethos of rugged individualism and vaunted freedom of expression that makes taking collective society-wide actions to control a viral pandemic difficult, no matter who is president. 

American exceptionalism is now its downfall. If you are trying to tell me someone like Obama would have done no better than Trump, at least he would have made the attempt. Permit to doubt he would have suggested taking a dubious medication or injecting bleach, he would have been listening to the scientists.

 

 

 

 

[sometimewoodworker]

The deaths lag the infections by between 2 & 8 weeks so look back that far to see why the deaths are not going up.

this is the infection rate

 

infections have jumped from 60,000 per day to over 100,000 per day in the last 6 days.

 

and here is the difference between a second world country that is doing a reasonable job and the USA who is ridiculously bad.

Edited October 31, 2020 by onthedarkside
quote of removed post deleted

[Pattaya Spotter]

11 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Permit to doubt he would have suggested taking a dubious medication or injecting bleach

He never did either...maybe change your news diet from late night comedy shows to real news sources. And what's Europe's downfall?

Edited October 31, 2020 by Pattaya Spotter

[Phoenix Rising]

2 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

He never did either...maybe change your news diet from late night comedy shows to real news sources. And what's Europe's downfall?

"He never did either.."

No, as usual he suggested other people do it. Once a coward, always a coward.

 

"And what's Europe's downfall?"

Didn't know Europe is about to fall. 

[stevenl]

Difference is Europe is in second wave, US in first. Deaths lag infections, but yes, should be lower now.

Edited October 31, 2020 by onthedarkside
quote of removed post deleted