US surpasses 17m coronavirus cases as vaccines are distributed

The United States on Thursday surpassed a total of 17m coronavirus cases, with infections rising by more than a million a week during the early winter surge – while at the start of the year it took three months for the US to accumulate its first million cases.

Nearly a quarter million new coronavirus infections and more than 3,600 deaths had been reported just on Wednesday, shattering previous records as the national vaccination campaign against Covid-19 began rolling out across the country this week.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the US confirmed 247,403 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, and another 3,656 Americans died of the virus in a single day. Thursday’s unemployment report also showed new jobless claims rose to 885,000 last week, representing the highest weekly number since September.

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In a bittersweet day defined by both hope and despair, some hospital pharmacists on Wednesday reported receiving vials filled with surplus of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, potentially providing millions more doses than expected.

Another vaccine by Moderna – which is 94% effective – is also barreling toward emergency authorization as early as this week. A 22-member panel of experts are meeting to discuss its efficacy and potential side effects on Thursday.

But no vaccine will be widely available to the American public for months, and in the meantime, overwhelmed hospitals across the country are caring for more than 110,000 coronavirus patients – a staggering figure that has more than tripled since September, according to Washington Post analysis.

“It is absolutely imperative that we continue our work to wear masks, to avoid crowded spaces, to physically distance, to avoid travel if you can, because until the vaccine gets widespread, this is still our best measures to flatten the curve and save lives,” Adm Brett P Giroir, assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, said on CNN.

“We can save tens of thousands of lives just by doing these simple things.”

Last week, 29 states saw increases in new cases, led by Washington state, Tennessee and California, where infections surged by 66.9%, 57.6% and 55.9%, respectively, Reuters reported. Increases were also reported in Washington DC and Puerto Rico.

Deaths are also rising, and the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation is currently projecting that the US will have lost more than 500,000 people to the virus by April.

“We are in the timeframe now that probably for the next 60 to 90 days we’re going to have more deaths per day than we had at 9/11 or we had at Pearl Harbor,” Dr Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said last week.

Confronted by an avalanche of infections with no immediate end in sight, some hard-hit states are reverting to strict measures that mitigate the spread, while others have decided to remain hands-off.

In California, where 5,000 new body bags are being distributed, 60 refrigerated trailers have been repurposed as makeshift morgues and ICU availability statewide has dwindled to just 4.1%, a new slew of lockdown measures has shuttered hair salons, bars and other non-essential businesses.

As daily new cases surpass even springtime levels in New York, one of the first virus hotspots in the US, indoor dining has been banned in New York City and officials are threatening another lockdown come January.

“It is up to us. What will happen in three weeks? What will happen in four weeks? You tell me what you’re going to do over the next three weeks or four weeks, and I’ll tell you what’s going to happen,”Andrew Cuomo, New York’s governor, said Wednesday.

Meanwhile Greg Abbott, the Texas governor, has falsely claimed that shutdowns are ineffective and opted instead to roll back reopenings regionally based on hospital capacity, despite the state documenting over 14,800 new cases on Wednesday. In Florida, where more than 1.1 million residents have already been infected, Ron DeSantis, the governor, has also opposed a second lockdown.

Experts fear the holiday season will only compound the problem, as roughly 84.5 million Americans could still travel around Christmas and New Year’s, according to AAA. Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, has warned that January will be “terrible”.

“You’re going to have the Thanksgiving surge superimposed upon the Christmas surge,” he told Newsweek. “So it’s entirely conceivable that January could be the worst.”