The U.S. reached a new high Thursday in the number of daily confirmed coronavirus cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins Medical University.
On Oct. 29, 88,251 new COVID-19 cases were reported, more than 9,500 more cases than were reported the day before.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine said 2,250 Americans could die every day from the coronavirus by the middle of January, CNN reported.
“This is the hardest point in this pandemic right now — the next two months,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday. “We can’t give up our guard right now.”
On Friday, data from Johns Hopkins showed almost 1.2 million people have died around the world from the coronavirus. More than 45 million cases have been reported globally since the pandemic began.
The U.S. continues to lead the world in confirmed cases — more than 8.9 million — and deaths, with more than 228,000, according to Oct. 30 numbers from Johns Hopkins.
“The fall/winter surge should lead to a daily death toll that is approximately three times higher than now by mid-January," the institute said. "Hospital systems, particularly ICUs, are expected to be under extreme stress in December and January in 18 states.”
As the 2020 presidential campaign enters its final weekend, President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden are highlighting their vastly different approaches to the pandemic.
Biden vowed Wednesday not to campaign “on the false promises of being able to end this pandemic by flipping a switch,” pledging instead to prioritize science, even as Trump used the race’s final days to maintain a whirlwind schedule aimed at focusing on anything but the coronavirus.
The Democratic presidential nominee also argued that a Supreme Court conservative majority stretched to 6-3 by newly confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett could dismantle the Obama administration’s signature health law and leave millions without insurance coverage during the pandemic. He called Trump’s handling of the coronavirus an “insult” to its victims.
“Even if I win, it’s going to take a lot of hard work to end this pandemic,” Biden said during a speech in Wilmington, Delaware. “I do promise this: We will start on day one doing the right things.”
His comments reflected an unwavering attempt to keep the political spotlight on the pandemic. That was a departure from the president, who downplayed the threat and spent his day in Arizona, where relaxed rules on social distancing made staging big rallies easier.
Trump is touting his administration’s record on the economy. Real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 33.1% in the third quarter of 2020, as efforts continued to reopen businesses and resume activities that were postponed or restricted due to COVID-19. In the second quarter of 2020, real GDP decreased 31.4%.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are continuing to work on a stimulus deal, but prospects for it happening before Election Day appear slim.
Trump and the nation’s top health officials appear to be moving farther apart. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows declared last Sunday “we’re not going to control the pandemic.”
Since then, Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Adm. Brett Giroir has done a round of interviews warning that the country’s situation is “tenuous” but that Americans can control the virus by practicing what he calls the “3W’s”: watching your distance from others, wearing a mask and frequently washing your hands.
White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Deborah Birx, touring the states to raise prevention awareness, lamented in Bismarck, North Dakota, that she hadn’t seen such disdain for mask wearing elsewhere. “We find that deeply unfortunate because you don’t know who’s infected and you don’t know if you’re infected yourself,” she told reporters. The state’s positive test rate is 11%, above the level indicating widespread transmission.
“We are in a third wave,” said Marta Wosinska of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. “We are seeing pretty dramatic increases in the number of people hospitalized and an uptick in deaths.”
The White House insists there’s no conflict between Trump and the health advisers, who shared the briefing room podium with the president on many occasions in the spring.
“As the president has said, the cure cannot be worse than the disease and this country should be open armed with best practices, such as social distancing, good hygiene, and face coverings, to limit the spread of COVID-19,” spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement.
The health officials do not invoke Trump in their warnings, and they sidestep questions that might lead them into anything that could be perceived as a direct criticism.
With the arrival of cold weather, the virus risk is greater because people will spend time indoors where it can spread more readily.
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