
As the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prepares to hold an emergency meeting today to vote on who will get a Covid-19 vaccine first, the US continues to report record-high hospitalizations, and experts worry about hospital capacity as cases surge.
Hospitalizations more than doubled since the beginning of November, and the US saw more Covid-19 deaths last month than the pandemic's combined death toll in Australia, Canada, China, Japan and Germany, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Here's a look at the latest figures in the US:
- There were a record-setting 96,039 hospitalizations reported on Monday, according to the Covid Tracking Project data.
- The US is now averaging 91,326 hospitalizations over the last 7 days. This is up 9.63% since last week. These metrics have never been higher.
- 18 states reported record-high hospitalizations on Monday.
- The Covid Tracking Project data warned in a tweet that “Hospitalizations have doubled since November 1 and tripled since October 1. We should see 100k hospitalizations in the next couple of days.”
- On the final day of November, the US added 157,901 new Covid-19 cases and 1,172 reported deaths according to Johns Hopkins University.
- The US now averages 160,428 Covid-19 cases per day, which is down slightly from last week due to the holiday.
- Going back to Nov. 1, the nation was averaging 82,057 new cases per day. That is a 95.51% increase over just 30 days.
And the numbers will likely get much worse before a possible vaccine begins to offer some relief in the spring.
Experts say the daily death toll will double in the coming days, while infections will likely see another surge in a few weeks, fueled by Thanksgiving travel and gatherings.