U.S. reported 3,400 Covid deaths on Friday, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns of a surge after Capitol riots.
Data shows that about 3,000 people in the U.S. are dying every day, on average. Meanwhile, the 3,400 Covid deaths posted on Friday pushed the seven-day average of daily new deaths to a record-high 2,983. This is a 19% increase compared with just one week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Moreover, daily infections are increasing to fresh highs, as well. Over the past week, the U.S. reported an average of more than 247,200 new cases daily, up 27% from a week ago, according to Hopkins data.
Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, warned that the coronavirus outbreak will get worse before it gets better. This is the same sentiment expressed by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, earlier this week.
“We’re going to continue to see mortality in the 2,500-5,000 a day range,” Redfield told the McClatchy news agency in an interview. “This is going to continue to get worse through January, and probably parts of February before we really start to turn the corner.”
Cases are significantly increasing almost everywhere, as the country faces a predicted surge in the virus triggered by inter-state travel and holiday gatherings last month. Average daily new infections are up by at least 5% in 47 states, according to Hopkins data.
Meanwhile, Redfield said that the Capitol riots led by the supporters of President Donald Trump on Wednesday will make the outbreak worse.
“I do think you have to anticipate that this is another surge event. You had largely unmasked individuals in a non-distanced fashion, who were all through the Capitol,” he said. “Then these individuals all are going in cars and trains and planes going home all across the country right now. So I do think this is an event that will probably lead to a significant spreading event.”
Redfield added that the outbreak is overwhelming hospitals in Southern California, where health-care workers are rationing supplemental oxygen while ambulances have to wait hours before dropping off patients. He also said Texas and Georgia could soon suffer from hospital bed shortages, too.
“We haven’t hit the peak of the current surge,” he said. “Clearly, the amount of mortality we’re seeing, as many of us are trying to stress, is more than we saw on Pearl Harbor or 9/11, over and over and over again. That’s the state of the pandemic, unfortunately, we’re at right now.”
Redfield was appointed by Trump in 2018 to lead the nation’s premier health agency. Redfield will be replaced by Dr. Rochelle Walensky under President-elect Joe Biden.
Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said the distribution effort had a slow partly due to the holidays, but the pace is expected to improve this month.
The U.S. provided about 800,000 shots in 24 hours, according to the CDC. Data shows that over 22.1 million doses have been distributed, but only 6.7 million have been administered.
