The weekly rates of Covid-19 cases and deaths in the United States have never been higher, and state officials are warning of more alarming patterns after the holidays.
The total number of Americans infected with the virus exceeded 22 million Saturday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, and more than 372,000 have died.
From the states: Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the state was seeing “a real and significant increase in the number of cases and our positivity rate from people’s gatherings around the holiday.”
“This wave we are currently in is at least twice as fast as the severity of the previous waves that we have seen,” the governor said on Friday.
This is our most dangerous time. “
Colorado state epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy warned Friday of “early signs” of an increase in Covid-19 cases. “We are starting to see the impact of the holidays in our data,” she said. Health experts believe that about one in 105 residents is currently contagious, Herlihy added.
Riot in the Capitol: Health officials are also concerned that the storming of the Capitol on Wednesday could affect the pandemic.
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Friday that the riot was likely to be a “wave event” with “public health implications.”
“You had largely exposed individuals in a non-detached way who were all over the Capitol,” said Dr. Robert Redfield the McClatchy newspaper group. “Then these individuals are now all going home in cars and trains and planes across the country.”
So I think this is an event that is likely to lead to significant spread, ”he added.
Record cases and deaths: In the nine days since the start of 2021, the US has recorded more than 2 million new Covid-19 cases and more than 26,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The nation has had an average of about 247,200 Covid-19 cases per day for the past week as of Friday – a record high and more than 3.7 times greater than a DST peak in late July, data from Johns Hopkins shows.
And the country has had an average of 2,982 deaths a day for the past week – the highest rate in the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins. This week also marked the first time that the US reported more than 4,000 deaths from the coronavirus in one day on Thursday.
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