The Covid Tracking Project reported that the US had a record high of 101,487 Covid-19 hospitalizations on Sunday.
The new record high for Covid-19 hospitalizations demonstrates the massive pressure being carried by hospitals and health care workers in the US and reflects the scope and severity of the outbreak.
It was only a few days ago that the US first reached 100,000 hospitalizations.
Dr. Janis Orlowski, chief health care officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges, told CNBC in a phone interview that she does not remember any illness sickening so many Americans all at once ever before.
"I don’t think we’ve ever seen this number. We certainly never saw this number with HIV or any of the other new diseases that we’ve had," Orlowksi said. "It’s an astonishing, astonishing number and the shame of it is it’s a number that we could have impacted and we didn’t."
According to Orlowski’s organization, the AAMC, all health systems must prepare to implement "Crisis Standards of Care," which is regularly used in situations such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
Covid-19 resurgence and health care
It's only the first week but the month of December has recorded the highest number of Covid-19 hospitalizations in the country since the pandemic started.
It took almost 100 days before the US reached 1 million cases since the fist coronavirus infections were confirmed on January 20. Meanwhile, data from Johns Hopkins University showed that from December 1 to 5 alone, the US has already reported 1,000,882 cases.
CNN medical analyst and former Baltimore City health commissioner Dr. Leana Wen said: "Our hospitals are already at the brink. And they are just at the brink of becoming so overwhelmed that patients are going to get less than ideal care."
Experts and health care workers are anticipating a potential surge of infections due to recent Thanksgiving travels and gatherings. Dr. Wen claims there will be an "exponential rise" in cases in the next few weeks.
She is calling on all US citizens to help combat the spread of the virus and relieve the strain on hospitals. "Because otherwise we have a catastrophe on our hands that's worse than any of us can possibly imagine," she said.
As of Sunday night, there have been over 14.7 million confirmed Covid-19 cases reported in the US and more than 282,200 deaths associated with the virus.
Stay-at-home order at Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area officials will impose a stay-at-home order early even if the state has not yet reached its threshold.
"Today is a really tough day," San Francisco Mayor London Breed said during a press briefing. "Our hospitalization rates are rising locally, especially in our ICU right now. And just as importantly, hospitalizations are rising everywhere, so if we run out of beds, there won’t be another county that can help us."
California Governor Gavin Newsom cautioned that every area was expected to fall below 15% ICU capacity at some point in December. The Bay Area could be the last region to hit that mark, he said.
Health officers from the San Francisco Bay Area, particularly for the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and Santa Clara as well as the city of Berkeley, issued a joint announcement on Friday, stating that they would implement the order early. The order will be in effect until Jan. 4, 2021.
"We are right now in the most dangerous time of this pandemic for our state and our region," Breed said in a tweet.
"Cases and hospitalizations are surging. Unless we get things under control immediately, we could quickly run out of hospital beds in the Bay Area," he said.
