America's deadliest day: US breaks yet another grim COVID-19 record with 3,865 dead - as Arizona becomes new 'hot spot of the world' with hospitals operating at 120% capacity and all but four Sun Belt states facing record hospitalizations
The United States has broken yet another grim COVID-19 record with nearly 3,900 dead in a single day - as Arizona becomes the latest 'hot spot of the world' with multiple hospitals operating at more than 120 percent of licensed bed capacity and new daily cases doubling since the state's summer peak.
At least 3,865 Americans - or 2.7 every minute - died on Wednesday, marking the deadliest day of the pandemic so far. The death toll in the US has now surpassed 361,000.
Cases and hospitalizations also continue to surge with a record 132,476 patients being treated for the virus, which is an increase of 1,200 from the previous day, and a near record of 253,145 new infections reported.
Arizona has this week become what health officials are calling the latest 'hot spot of the world' because of soaring case loads.
The state is now the worst affected in the US for cases per capita with an average of 121 cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days, according to the latest CDC data. It is a grim milestone the state hasn't seen since experiencing a surge at the beginning of the summer.
It comes as the super contagious UK strain of the virus is now spreading in the US with dozens of cases detected across the country.
Pennsylvania and Texas became the latest states to confirm a case of the mutant strain on Thursday.
There are now a total of 62 cases in the US: One in each Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia and New York, two in Colorado, 22 in Florida and 32 in California where there is a cluster in San Diego.
A patient lies on a stretcher in a hallway with other patients in the overloaded Emergency Room at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, California
Hard-hit Arizona was recording around 3,800 new cases a day during its summer peak back in June and July. Now, cases are skyrocketing to 8,000.
The state's health officials on Wednesday reported more than 7,200 daily cases and a triple-digit number of new virus-related deaths for the second day in a row.
Hospitals across the state are also strained by a record number of patients.
In Arizona, hospitals are now forced to send emergency patients elsewhere and elective surgeries are halted with more than 4,600 coronavirus patients are currently hospitalized.
Out of the 1,800 ICU beds available across the state, there were only 136 beds available as of Wednesday.
The state also has the worst coronavirus diagnosis rate in the country, with one out of every 119 people in the state testing positive in the past week, health officials said.
The South is seeing a dramatic rise in new COVID-19 patients with all but four Sun Belt states reporting record hospitalizations in the last week.
According to the COVID Tracking Project, 15 states recorded their highest week of COVID hospitalizations this week, all of them in the South or West.
Louisiana, D.C., Kentucky and Florida were the only parts of the South not to have record hospitalizations this week.
California and Arizona were the two western states that reached record hospitalizations this week, both of which are continuing to see strain on their healthcare system with no change in site.
Deaths per capita are currently the worst in Kansas where an average of 1.7 deaths per 100,000 residents have been recorded, the CDC data shows.
Rhode Island and Wyoming follows with 1.5 deaths and then Arizona with 1.3 deaths.
According to the COVID Tracking Project, 15 states recorded their highest week of COVID hospitalizations this week, all of them in the south or west. California and Arizona were the two states in the west that reached record hospitalizations
ARIZONA: Banner Health in Phoenix has set up morgue trucks to cope with the recent surge of COVID cases across the state
Despite the intensifying surge in Arizona, the state's health experts are concerned that there is still no widespread public vigilance such as mask wearing and social distancing that could help combat the spread.
Dr Joshua LaBaer, director of the Biodesign Institute research center at Arizona State University, called the state 'the hot spot of the world right now'. He believes at least 1 in 10 people actually has the virus.
'That means if you're at the supermarket, there are people around you who have it but they may not know it yet,' LaBaer said. 'It's not a time where I would recommend people spend time indoors with people who are not their immediate family.'
The state also 'without a doubt' will see more deaths than usual for the winter months, LaBaer said. Aside from COVID-19-related deaths, people with other illnesses who hesitate to go to the hospital are at risk.
Virus case numbers have been trending upward since Gov. Doug Ducey allowed Arizona bars, nightclubs and restaurants to fully reopen in September.
Ducey has frequently resisted calls to take strong measures and has declined to institute a statewide mask mandate.
Will Humble, head of the Arizona Public Health Association, said travel and people gathering for the holidays, starting with Thanksgiving was 'gasoline that went onto the fire'.
'We have a governor and health director who don't care. Their goal in my opinion is to vaccinate their way out of this,' Humble said. 'Eventually it will work. There's just going to be a lot of dead people in the meantime.'
More than 119,000 people in Arizona have received the vaccine, state health officials said Wednesday. That is is less than 2 percent of the state's population.
CASES PER CAPITA: Arizona is now the worst affected in the US for cases per capita with an average of 121 cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days, according to the latest CDC data
Dr. Marjorie Bessel, chief clinical officer of Banner Health, the state's largest hospital chain, said the uncontrollable spread of the virus could be lessened if the government enforced mask requirements, barred indoor dining and cancelled large gatherings.
'We are not doing a good job with this virus,' Bessel said of the state. 'At this time during the surge of the pandemic, we need additional mitigation. We need enforcement of those mitigation activities, and we need everybody to do their own part.'
Dr Michael White, chief clinical officer of Arizona's Valleywise Health said the Phoenix-based health care system has no intensive care beds available. Some patients waiting for beds were being treated on gurneys in the emergency department.
'I've never seen anything like this in all the years I've been part of health care,' White said.
C.J. Karamargin, the governor's spokesman, said the current number of cases and deaths are 'heartbreaking' but it's a phenomenon happening in other states even with strict stay-at-home orders.
'Faced with strict mitigation measures in place and states that have few or minimal mitigation measures in place all are experiencing the same thing,' Karamargin said.
'The mitigation measures the state of Arizona put into place early on - they remain in place. We urge every Arizonan to follow them.'
Meanwhile in hard-hit California, hospitals struggling with a skyrocketing coronavirus surge are trying to prepare for the possibility that they may have to ration care for lack of staff and beds - and hoping they don't have to make that choice.
The state avoided surging cases for months, but now the virus is raging out of control there and across the nation in the wake of Thanksgiving holiday gatherings that authorities say vastly spread infections.
Only Arizona tops California in cases per resident.
Clinicians care for a COVID-19 patient at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, California
The super contagious UK strain of the virus is now spreading in the US with dozens of cases detected across the country. Pennsylvania and Texas became the latest states to confirm a case of the mutant strain on Thursday. There are now a total of 62 cases in the US: One in each Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia and New York, two in Colorado, 22 in Florida and 32 in California where there is a cluster in San Diego
The state this week ordered hospitals in the hardest-hit areas to delay many elective surgeries in order to free up space.
Los Angeles County, the nation's most populous with 10 million residents, is one of nearly two dozen in Southern California and the agricultural Central Valley that have essentially run out of intensive care unit beds for COVID-19 patients.
Health officials warned Wednesday that hospitalizations will continue for at least the next three weeks as people who ignored social distancing rules to gather for Christmas and New Year's Eve fall ill.
Hospitals statewide with room have been told to accept patients from others that have exhausted their ICU beds but in fact most of the state is reporting struggling to provide ICU beds, with non-COVID-19 patients spilling into corridors, tents and cafeterias.
To the north, officials in Santa Clara County, with about 2 million residents, say 100 infected people a day are winding up in hospitals.
California reported its second-highest number of daily coronavirus deaths Wednesday with 459 lives lost, bringing the death toll to 2,504 in the last week as more than a quarter-million new weekly cases portended a continued overwhelming crush.
Vaccinations being administered at what Gov. Gavin Newsom has said is too slow a pace will take weeks or months to slow the spread.
About 12% of people who test positive for COVID-19 eventually are likely to need hospital care, authorities have estimated.
CALIFORNIA: Motorists wait in long lines to take a coronavirus test in a parking lot at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles as cases surge
TENNESSEE: Long lines formed at a vaccination clinic at the Knoxville Expo Center in Knoxville, Tennessee
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