Coronavirus: Joe Biden issues dire warning for US as 2,731 die on worst day of pandemic
- US President-elect Joe Biden warns of another ‘250,000 people dead between now and January’
- The death toll is rising as hospitalisations in the US surpassed 100,000 for the first time
US President-elect Joe Biden has issued a dire warning about the spread of the coronavirus over the next two months, predicting another 250,000 deaths.
White House coronavirus task force member Anthony Fauci will meet with members of Biden’s team on Thursday after President Donald Trump’s administration delayed the transition process for weeks amid a coronavirus surge. Fauci has already met with incoming White House chief of staff Ron Klain.
The warning came on Wednesday when at least 2,731 people died from Covid-19 in the United States, making it the deadliest date for America since the pandemic started.
Before Wednesday, the deadliest day of the pandemic was April 15, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The now-third-worst day was Tuesday.
A record 100,226 Americans were hospitalised on Wednesday, according to data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project, the latest in a weeks-long streak of record-setting daily figures.
That day, the US also reported almost 200,000 new coronavirus cases. The US high for recorded cases in a day came last Friday, with more than 205,000 infections.
More than 270,000 people in the US have died from Covid-19, the most of any country. Almost 1.5 million people have died worldwide.
The Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, on Tuesday warned that the death toll could reach 450,000 by February.
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“The reality is, December and January and February are going to be rough times. I actually believe they're going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation,” Redfield said during a talk at the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
Biden on Wednesday said: “We’re likely to lose another 250,000 people dead between now and January”.
Biden, who has warned of a “dark winter” ahead, did not offer details to back up his assessment, which is far bleaker than projections by the CDC and other experts.
“You hear me? Because people aren’t paying attention,” he said. “You cannot be travelling during these holidays, as much as you want to”.
Officials in some states, including California, have warned of shortages of hospital beds and staff.
LouAnn Woodward, who leads Mississippi’s largest hospital system, the University of Mississippi Medical Centre (UMMC), tweeted that beds were full.
Morgues overflow as US averages ‘one Covid-19 death per minute’
“As of 6:46am today, UMMC’s bed status is -31 beds, which means that 31 people are admitted but waiting for a bed to become available. Who will be #32 or #33 or #34?” she wrote.
While vaccines are within sight, health experts expect gatherings at Thanksgiving and other holidays to further fuel the widespread surge.
US health authorities on Wednesday warned people to avoid travel during the Christmas holidays at the end of this month.
“We need to stop these exponential increases and that’s why we are asking the American public to prevent infections and postpone travel,” Henry Walke of the CDC told a press briefing.
The CDC advised people who travel anyway to get tested before and after the trip. The agency also said its recommended two-week quarantine could be shortened to seven or 10 days, provided a person tests negative for the virus or shows no symptoms.
A CDC advisory panel formally recommended that health care workers and long-term care facility residents should receive the first available doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the US.
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Trump has hailed recent progress on vaccine developments, but appears to have largely ceased paying attention to the spiralling outbreak. There are growing concerns that his administration is increasingly absent from efforts to slow the spread of the virus.
But the White House again claimed credit for the rapid development of coronavirus immunisations, with the president’s top spokesperson on Wednesday branding the forthcoming shots as the “Trump vaccine”.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters it is a “tremendous achievement” for the US to have as many as 40 million vaccine doses ready by year’s end, crediting the accomplishment to Trump’s background in the business world.
“It’s having a businessman as president. It’s the Trump vaccine,” McEnany told reporters at the White House.
The Trump administration’s “Operation Warp Speed” programme helped to accelerate vaccine development by several drug companies.
Tribune News Service, Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Bloomberg
