US Sees Deadliest Day of Pandemic With More Than 3,000 Deaths
More Than 106,000 Hospitalized With Virus
One Third of Americans Live in Area With Less Than 15 Percent ICU Capacity, One Tenth in Area With Less Than 5 Percent ICU Capacity
Protect Our Care’s Coronavirus War Room Director Zac Petkanas released the following statement:
“If you were just listening to the Trump Administration, Mitch McConnell, and their Republican allies, you would have no idea that yesterday was one of the deadliest days in American history.
“While Americans die in overwhelmed hospital systems, Republican leaders are enjoying themselves at glitzy White House Christmas parties and sabotaging a compromise relief effort by cutting unemployment insurance and insisting that massive corporations who put their workers’ health at risk get special legal protections.
“Since day one of this crisis, Republicans in power clearly chose to put politics ahead of the health and safety of the American people. For nine months, the country has suffered the deadly consequences.
“Now, just weeks away from Donald Trump being booted out of office for his failures – the lasting legacy of his Administration will be the hundreds of thousands of dead Americans that would be alive today if it wasn’t for their selfishness and incompetence.”
The US Is in a Historically Deadly Period as the Virus Breaks Records Day After Day
[COVID Tracking Project, Accessed 12/10/20]
- On December 10, The United States Reported 3,054 Deaths, Its Highest Single Day Death Toll To The Virus Since The Pandemic Began. “The coronavirus pandemic pushed the U.S. past another dire milestone Wednesday, the highest daily death toll to date, even while the mortality rate has decreased as health experts learn more about the disease. The Covid Tracking Project, which tracks state-level coronavirus data, reported 3,054 COVID-19 related deaths — a significant jump from the previous single-day record of 2,769 on May 7.” [NPR, 12/9/20]
- More Americans Died From COVID-19 Yesterday Than Did During The September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, The First Time The US Passed That Mark Since The Beginning Of The Pandemic. “More than 3,000 people in the U.S. died from COVID-19 on Wednesday marking the first time any country has recorded more than 3,000 deaths on a single day since the pandemic began. According to Johns Hopkins data, 3,049 Americans died, making Wednesday’s pandemic death toll higher than the number of people killed in the September 11 terror attacks in 2001. It’s the first day to surpass that horrifying benchmark.” [New York Daily News, 12/10/20]
- Yesterday’s COVID-19 Death Toll Is Higher Than Some Counts Of Hurricane Maria’s Death Toll In 2017. Hurricane Maria Was One Of The United States’ Deadliest Natural Disasters In One Hundred Years. “Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. territory [of Puerto Rico] on Sept. 20, 2017, ultimately killing at least 2,975 people; it was the deadliest U.S.-based natural disaster in 100 years.” [NBC News, 9/20/20]
- More People Died From COVID-19 Yesterday, And Almost Every Day Last Week, Than Died In The Attacks On Pearl Harbor In 1941. “COVID-19 claimed more lives in the US almost every day last week than died in the attack on Pearl Harbor, according to virus tracking data. Early on Dec. 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise aerial attack on the US Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii from aircraft carriers at sea. The attack… killed 2,403 US military and civilian personnel, according to Naval History and Heritage Command.” [Business Insider, 12/7/20]
- More People Died From COVID-19 Yesterday Than Calculations Suggest Died In The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. “The closest single natural disaster, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, is estimated to have directly and indirectly claimed 3,000 lives at a time when San Francisco had about 400,000 residents.” [Mercury News, 8/7/20]
Record-Breaking and Relentless Hospitalizations Continue
[New York Times, Accessed 12/9/20]
- 106,688 People In The US Are Currently Hospitalized With COVID-19, An All-Time High Since The Beginning Of The Pandemic. “With 106,688 COVID patients in U.S. hospitals, another all-time high, deaths from the pandemic are expected to grow in the coming weeks. With the total death count between 280,000 and 290,000, the U.S. is also expected to pass the tragic point of 300,000 deaths in the coming week.” [New York Magazine, 12/10/20]
- Since December 9, Daily Cases And Hospitalizations Have Nearly Doubled, And The Seven-Day Average Of Deaths Has Nearly Tripled. “The expected winter effects on the spread of the virus, plus the increase of travel during the holidays, have caused all coronavirus metrics to spike over the last month. Since December 9, daily cases have almost doubled, hospitalizations have almost doubled, and the seven-day average of deaths has almost tripled, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. Given the brutal season ahead, Centers for Disease Control director Robert Redfield told Americans last week to brace for another 200,000 more deaths from the virus by February.” [New York Magazine, 12/10/20]
- More Than One Third Of Americans Live In Areas Where Hospitals Have Less Than 15 Percent Of Hospital Beds Available. “More than a third of Americans live in areas where hospitals are running critically short of intensive care beds, federal data show, revealing a newly detailed picture of the nation’s hospital crisis during the deadliest week of the Covid-19 epidemic. Hospitals serving more than 100 million Americans reported having fewer than 15 percent of intensive care beds still available as of last week, according to a Times analysis of data reported by hospitals and released by the Department of Health and Human Services.” [New York Times, 12/9/20]
- One In Ten Americans Lives In An Area Where Intensive Care Beds Are Completely Full, Or Fewer Than Five Percent Are Available. “Many areas are even worse off: One in 10 Americans — across a large swath of the Midwest, South and Southwest — lives in an area where intensive care beds are either completely full, or fewer than 5 percent of beds are available. At these levels, experts say maintaining existing standards of care for the sickest patients may be difficult or impossible.” [New York Times, 12/9/20]
- The C.D.C. Released A Report That Forecasted That The US Could See As Many As 23,000 New COVID-19 Hospitalizations A Day By The End Of The Month. “The U.S. could see as many as 23,000 new COVID-19 hospitalizations per day on the Monday after the Christmas holiday weekend, while the number of hospital beds needed could surpass 166,000 by New Year’s Day, according to the latest projections. According to forecasts from 12 modeling groups published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ‘For December 28, the forecasts estimate 2,300 to 23,000 new COVID-19 hospitalizations per day.’” [Newsweek, 12/9/20]