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Topline
The U.S. has now recorded more than 13 million cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University data, as cases surge nationwide—and could soon spike even more in the wake of Thanksgiving gatherings.
A health worker takes a nasal swab sample at a COVID-19 testing site at St. John’s Well Child and … [+]
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
There are currently 13,047,202 reported cases of Covid-19 in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins, though a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) model has projected the actual number of infections may be approximately eight times higher.
It took just six days for the U.S. to reach 13 million cases after passing 12 million cases on Nov. 21.
The U.S. recorded 110,611 new cases as of Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University data, marking the 25th day in a row that the country has recorded more than 100,000 cases.
Unlike earlier in the pandemic, when virus hotspots were more concentrated in specific regions, the virus is currently surging nationwide, with the New York Times reporting that North Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico, Montana and South Dakota are currently reporting the highest number of cases per capita.
The Covid Tracking Project reports 90,481 people were hospitalized with Covid-19 as of Thursday, as the current spike in cases has overwhelmed hospitals across the country.
Big Number
264,241. That’s the current number of recorded deaths from Covid-19 in the U.S. as of Friday, according to Johns Hopkins. A forecast released this week by the CDC predicts that number will increase to between 294,000 to 321,000 recorded deaths by Dec. 19.
What To Watch For
Health experts are warning that cases in the U.S. will sharply increase in the coming weeks due to Thanksgiving gatherings Thursday, as experts fear the holiday will turn out to be a wide-scale superspreader event. “We expect to see a massive surge on top of an already dire situation,” Dr. John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, told ABC News before Thanksgiving, predicting the influx in cases could cause a “humanitarian crisis.” The situation is unlikely to improve by Christmas, experts predict, though state and local officials have been implementing heightened restrictions on businesses and gatherings as cases have risen. “If the surge takes a turn of continuing to go up and you have the sustained greater than 100,000 infections a day and 1,300 deaths per day and the count keeps going up and up…I don’t see it being any different during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays than during Thanksgiving,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told USA Today last week.
Tangent
The case numbers coming out during and directly after Thanksgiving weekend may be slightly misleading, the Associated Press reports. Testing sites have shorter hours and fewer people may be getting tested during the holiday, potentially resulting in artificially low numbers. Given Covid-19’s incubation period, it could also take a few weeks before infections that took place over Thanksgiving are fully reflected in the case counts. “I just hope that people don’t misinterpret the numbers and think that there wasn’t a major surge as a result of Thanksgiving, and then end up making Christmas and Hanukkah and other travel plans,” emergency physician Dr. Leana Wen, a professor at George Washington University, told the AP.
Key Background
The U.S. has the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the world, out of 61,473,875 recorded cases of Covid-19 worldwide. Falling directly behind the U.S. are India and Brazil, which have just over 9 million and 6 million cases, respectively, and no other country has yet recorded more than 3 million Covid-19 cases.
Further Reading
Here’s Where You Can No Longer Get An ICU Bed Because Of Covid (Forbes)
Total Covid-19 Cases In U.S. May Be Eight Times Higher Than Reported, Scientists Estimate (Forbes)
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