(CNN) — As the US approaches 15 million reported COVID-19 infections, it is adding case numbers at its fastest rate yet, and officials are racing to increase vaccine protocols as well.
Coronavirus metrics at all levels have been on the rise. In the five days since Dec. 2, the U.S. has added more than a million new cases, bringing the total to more than 14.9 million, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The nation has also reported 15,658 deaths in the past seven days, making it the deadliest coronavirus week since April.
And for the sixth day in a row, more than 100,000 people are receiving treatment for the virus in hospitals across the country.
“We’re probably going to start to see the worst of what it means when there are people traveling and congregating in seemingly innocent settings,” Fauci told CNN on Monday. “The situation is that now that we are entering Thanksgiving into the holiday season, it will be a challenge.”
As the U.S. braces for a wave of cases that may stem from Christmas and Hanukkah in addition to the potential spike on Thanksgiving, officials are stepping up efforts to distribute Pfizer and Moderna candidate vaccines that are awaiting authorization. emergency use of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Despite the challenges to production and distribution, tens of millions of Americans will be vaccinated by January 20, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in an interview with Axios that aired Monday.
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‘If the worst happens, hospitals won’t be able to treat’ patients
As the impacts of the virus move across the US, state leaders are managing the strain on their hospital systems.
Beginning Friday, Massachusetts hospitals will reduce elective procedures to free up staff and beds for rising coronavirus cases, Governor Charles Baker said Monday.
“You could actually see our positive test rates stop growing” before the holidays, he said. “And after about five to ten days, which is the typical incubation period after Thanksgiving, they took off like a rocket.”
Pennsylvania is also in an increasingly “dire” situation when it comes to hospital beds, Gov. Tom Wolf said Monday. Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said patients are already being diverted to other facilities because emergency rooms are full.
“If the worst happens, hospitals won’t be able to treat every sick Pennsylvania resident,” Wolf said. “They will be forced to turn away people who need treatment, and that means more Pennsylvanians will die.”
And in Arizona, where 92% of ICU beds are occupied, nearly half of the beds are filled with coronavirus patients, according the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Meanwhile, in Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear announced that he does not plan to extend in-person dining restrictions for bars and restaurants that expire on Dec. 13, meaning they will return to 50% capacity the next day.
The governor added that when restaurants and bars return to domestic service, they must be “militant” about the mandates to wear masks.
Recruitment to vaccinate in the US during the holidays
Officials hope to distribute the first wave of vaccines, which were recommended to be given to the elderly and healthcare workers this month, and although the vaccine candidates have not yet been approved, efforts are underway to distribute and administer them quickly.
The Mount Sinai Hospital System in New York has begun recruiting people to vaccinate its healthcare workers during the holiday season, Susan Mashni, vice president and director of pharmacies for the Mont Sinai health system, told CNN.
In addition to nurses, pharmacists, and people currently administering flu shots, they are communicating with pharmacy and nurse interns, as well as medical students and residents.
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The system plans to administer Pfizer’s vaccine in “capsules,” using makeshift walls and bays in hospital lobbies, and stagger the vaccinations among employees in anticipation of side effects.
It is not yet clear whether those who have already had COVID-19 and have antibodies should be among the people who will receive a vaccine, Azar said Monday.
“That is something the FDA has not spoken about and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has not yet spoken in terms of providing guidance,” Azar said during an interview with NBC.
Holidays could lead to a ‘really dark time’ for covid-19
Health experts warned ahead of Thanksgiving that Americans should come together virtually instead of exposing themselves to risk. But millions still went through airports to meet in person with friends and family.
The Thanksgiving Day surge could start to manifest itself in the next week, Fauci said, because it typically takes about two and a half weeks from the time of the event for new positive test cases and possible hospitalizations to occur.
“The problem is that the potential increase will come right at the beginning of Christmas and Hanukkah,” he said.
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If Americans travel and spread the virus over the next holiday, “mid-January could be a really dark time for us,” Fauci said.
“It is so natural to think that when I invite family and friends for the holidays, Christmas and Hanukkah, you walk into the house and take off your mask because you are eating and drinking. And you don’t realize that there may be someone you know, who you love, who is a friend, who is a family member, who is perfectly fine with no symptoms and yet they got infected in the community and taken to that little meeting that you now have at your house, “he said.
CNN’s Brandon Miller, Rebekah Riess, Lauren Mascarenhas, Laurie Urie, Shelby Erdman, Naomi Thomas, and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.
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