Worst week yet
The United States is just having its worst week for the virus.
In the past seven days, the country recorded more than 500,000 new cases, counting the nine millionth case since the pandemic began. At least 90,000 new cases were recorded yesterday – an all-time high and the equivalent of more than one case per second – and there is no end in sight to the recent surge.
Unlike previous peaks, which saw some areas spike the number of cases, this time around the virus has gripped almost every corner of the country, including many areas where the waves of the past have been avoided.
Colorado counted 2,000 new cases, Illinois recorded 6,400, and more than 1,000 were found in New Mexico – all record highs for these states. In the past week, 24 states have added more cases than any other seven-day period in the pandemic, while 42 states are growing ever more new cases.
If we look at a better indicator of the strength of the recent surge – hospital stays – the situation looks just as serious. Hospital data collected by the Covid Tracking Project shows that the number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus has reached record highs in nearly half of the states in recent weeks. In the past month, hospital stays have increased 46 percent.
The death rate remains lower than at its peak, averaging 800 deaths per day. But as we’ve seen in previous waves, deaths can delay cases and hospital stays by several weeks. Even if there is no spike in deaths, the death rate has also increased over the past month and has not fallen as much as experts had hoped after the summer surge.
Unlike the spring, when the virus was deadliest where Democrats live, the new spike includes Republican-dominated parts of the Great Plains and Mountain West. And in battlefield states, an increasing proportion of cases are emerging in counties that supported Mr Trump in 2016.
Election day next week will be unusual in many ways, but it won’t be the first time the country has voted during a pandemic. During the midterm elections of 1918, cases also increased in October. Personal campaigns were restricted, as were speeches and rallies. Turnout was low and those who cast ballots voted for an amendment, flipping both houses of Congress in favor of the Republican Party.
Resurgences
Here is a summary of the restrictions in all 50 states.
What else are we pursuing
What you are doing
We are both what you would call “busy New Yorkers”. Too hurried to take care of breakfast; It is much more important to get the train on time. But it’s been more than six months since we as a couple organically developed a morning routine – taking turns making coffee, making breakfast, reading the news to each other. I still have to go to work while my partner is left home, but our slower mornings are the highlight of my day. I go to bed every work day and look forward to her.
– Marina De la Rosa, Brooklyn
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