US is 'rounding the corner into a calamity,' expert says, with Covid-19 deaths projected to double s

[UpInArms]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by JudyM (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: CNN

... snip ...

More than 205,000 new cases were reported Friday -- which likely consists of both Thursday and Friday reports in some cases, as at least 20 states did not report Covid-19 numbers on Thanksgiving.

The US has now reported more than 100,000 infections every day for 25 consecutive days and hospitalizations remain at record high levels -- with more than 89,800 patients reported nationwide Friday, according to the COVID Tracking Project. A record was set just a day earlier, with a staggering 90,481 hospitalizations, according to the project. And the nation recorded a daily death toll of less than 1,000 only twice this week -- while the two days prior to Thanksgiving each saw more than 2,000 American deaths reported.

And while there is more good news on the vaccine front, for now Americans need to "hunker down" and prepare for a difficult winter ahead, according to Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and a visiting professor at George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.

... snip ...

"If anything, we are rounding the corner into a calamity," Wen said. "We're soon going to exceed well more than 2,000 deaths, maybe 3,000, 4,000 deaths every single day here in the US."

That projection has been echoed by other experts including Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine at George Washington University, who predicts the country's daily death toll will likely double in just the next 10 days.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/28/health/us-coronavirus-saturday/index.html

[634-5789]

1. And the tRump tRain assholes up the street...

...had their entire redneck KKKlan there for Thanksgiving. Nary a mask in sight.....So they're going back to Kentucky and Wyoming, let the superspreading begin....

[leftieNanner]

14. I have no pity for them if they get sick, but

it's the grave impact they will have on our healthcare system that upsets me.

I wish we could put "no mask" signs on their foreheads!

[Botany]

2. "The US has now reported more than 100,000 infections every day for 25 consecutive days ... "

[KY_EnviroGuy]

3. Didn't tRump say we are "'rounding the corner" with the pandemic a while back?

...... ........

Another tRump lie coming back to bite him in the arse.......

[PatSeg]

5. Yeah we've rounded the corner from

very serious to apocalyptic in nature.

If it is THIS bad now, just imagine how bad it will be in two or three weeks after all the holiday gatherings and travel. Then the fools who haven't been affected will get together for Christmas as well. Damn, its starting to feel like a disaster movie.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

6. Agree because we still have Christmas and New Years to go.

By the time inauguration day rolls around, America will be seeing worsened nation-wide exponential case rises and holding a lot of bittersweet memories.

The challenges Joe and Kamala are facing are monumental.

KY....

[Dustlawyer]

7. Trump will get one more BS "victory" as his inaugural crowd size will be bigger

than Biden’s due to the Trump pandemic.

[PatSeg]

10. Yeah and he'll probably

make a huge deal out of that even though it is his fault.

[PatSeg]

9. Yes, I don't envy them

I thought Obama inherited a real mess and of course he did, but not nearly as bad as this. Joe thought his political life was behind him, but apparently he was born for this moment. No one else has the experience and expertise that he does. He clearly will enter the White House ready to go on day one. There will be no learning period, though I can imagine finding out how much worse everything is than we knew might be a shock.

Most importantly, he will have the best of the best working with him and he knows how to delegate responsibility to the people around him.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

11. Yes, and few in America know how fortunate we are to have Joe and Kamala.

"born for this moment" speaks volumes.

I will hold both of them, their Cabinet and staff in thoughts and meditation every day for their health and safety.

It's going to be a long, tough road but as Joe said "we've got this".......

[PatSeg]

13. Yes, he's survived so much

I really think that he is ready for this. In earlier years, he really wanted to be president, now I think he feels he is obligated to do this. I think the ambition and ego are behind him and now it is about service first and foremost. He wants to be where he can do the most good.

[durablend]

17. Yup.

In less than 2 months it'll be Biden's problem as far as *he's* concerned.

"BIDEN HAS BEEN IN OFFICE ONE DAY AND STILL HASN'T ERRADICATED THE PANDEMIC!!!"

[ProfessorGAC]

24. Clearly, He Can't See Around Corners

He heard the train, but thought it was exiting the tunnel, not entering it.
"Turning the corner" is still accurate. But, we turned in front of the train.

[EarthFirst]

4. Not per week... Not per month... Every.Single.Day.

We really need a municipality or state government to set the bar: shut it down.

No loophole agriculture exemptions for landscapers to rake leaves or mow the lawns. No infrastructure exemptions for masons working so that the new Taco Bell may open. No Amazon deliveries of duvet covers or personalized pet dishes.

Etc. Etc. Etc.

Zero exemptions.

If you aren’t a law enforcement officer; medic; fire fighter or medical professional; you’re staying the fuck home.

Of course this all hinges on widespread financial commitments from a host of economic players and a UBI for every man woman and child in the nation.

I simply cannot comprehend how so many are so willing to participate in creating a public health catastrophe...

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

16. How about grocery stores?

I've grown rather fond of eating.

Added on edit: I happen to live in a state, New Mexico, that has done a more thorough shut down than most. No more in-restaurant dining, even at 25% capacity. Carryout or delivery only. Someone at the front of every store that is open keeping track of how many enter and how many leave. Usually there are lines in front of grocery stores.

In Santa Fe we had the Target closed for two weeks because of employees testing positive. A Smith's grocery store was closed for the same reason, then able to re-open after a week because they got some kind of in-house frequent testing of employees.

Our state numbers had been climbing, and now are dropping back somewhat.

Other than going to the grocery store, I haven't seen anyone for several weeks now.

[EarthFirst]

18. You get the point. nt

[ProfessorGAC]

25. Where's The Line Though?

One reason the first restrictions weren't more successful is because "essential" was broadly defined & construed.
As I thought about that, I'm convinced that deciding what's essential & what isn't is more difficult than it appears on first reflection.
If anybody is essential, now we've got to consider gas stations essential so those people can function.
And, they need to eat, so now groceries are open.
Pharmacies have to be open.
And, so on.
And, I'm uncomfortable just saying "Oh, well" about the independent restaurants that will go broke & those people who depend on that job.
Finding where to draw the line between everybody & almost everybody is very tricky.
Part of that sentiment is rooted in my belief that masks are VERY effective. And, I believe that the biggest cause in the spread is people not cooperating & getting away with it.
I'd mandate & enforce ($) masks.
If that doesn't have the scientifically expected result, then hard stop.
But, we saw a major improvement when the first wave of cooperation went through.
Complacency & childish rebellion are more efficient things to conquer than draconian shut down measures.
That should be the "we did everything else" option. But, we've yet to do everything else.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

27. Plus, Kansas proved that masks are effective.

Earlier this year masks were enforced county by county, and the counties that didn't enforce masking had many more cases than those that did.

Masks are not 100%, especially if you take them off to sing hymns at church, but if you actually wear them all the time you are around others, and wear them properly, they are extremely effective.

[JCMach1]

8. No room at many hospitals now

If that happened to me in September, I would have died in a day or two

[BobTheSubgenius]

12. Good thing it "affects almost nobody."

If this virus becomes airborne, there could be some real consequences. Will we be longing for the days of "only" 1000 deaths per day?

This is NOT merely incompetence.

[sandensea]

15. A.k.a. The Trump Doctrine

[DeminPennswoods]

19. Crazy the entire country has to

"hunker down" because an "amazing" 90,000 people in a country of 330M are hospitalized. What is wrong with this picture?

This total fear-mongering has been going on for months now. A little more factual information and less citing of the worst case scenario numbers from selected models would go a long way toward helping Americans put everything in better perspective.

The fact is there are not 13M cases of covid19 in the US. That is a cumulative number. Even if one takes 100k cases/day for the last 30 days, that is 3M new cases spread over 50 states and presumably PR, too.

As 11/25, for ex, Pennsylvania reported 327,829 total cases (305,061 of were confirmed), but 62% of those cases are considered recoverd, leaving a total of 124,575 active cases in a population of 12.8M or about 1% of the total population.

[PatrickforO]

22. Well, I hear you. I do. But Trump did NOTHING. Not only did he utterly

fail to contain this pandemic, but he lied to us about how serious it would be.

And, coupled with his divisiveness and politicization of common sense stuff like social distancing and wearing masks for the sake of keeping each other safe, the hospitals are all near capacity and new cases are going up.

In my own state, I have seen a trend upward (three consecutive weeks) in new unemployment claims, and we now see disturbing pictures of long lines of cars waiting at food banks.

Right now, unemployment is going up, and whole industries are in danger of collapse. Small business owners are panicking because they cannot keep afloat much longer, but Republicans felt it more important to confirm judges than provide any relief to Americans.

Hundreds of thousands are about to lose their homes, their cars, and go hungry.

So, you know, while I am generally a pretty positive person, things with this pandemic really ARE grim, and it is maddening to have to wait for Biden to take office for the government to do anything.

Yeah, people are darned tired of being locked down, and I lay the blame for the length of the lockdown squarely in the lap of Donald Trump and the Republicans.

While many have recovered, and that is good, the fact that COVID cases requiring hospitalization will exceed the capacity of our hospitals, and many healthcare people do not yet have PPE because of Trump's failure to fully implement the war production act, means that we are still, after months, circling the drain.

Honestly, it won't get much better until the Democrats start actually governing the country, and unless we get these two candidates in GA elected, we can count on Moscow Mitch continuing to obstruct everything that could possibly help people while insisting that businesses need to be free from all liability around forcing their workers to work in unsafe conditions during the pandemic.

Tyson executives actually took bets on how many of their workers would get sick, did you know?

And yet, we lost seats in the House, did not flip the Senate, and 73 million low information people, brainwashed by years of corporate funded right wing propaganda and Republican racist dog whistles, actually were stupid enough to vote for Trump, and keep people like McConnell and Graham in office.

So, yeah, we are behind a pretty big barrel. There IS cause for optimism, but to downplay what has happened and is happening seems a bit too optimistic in the face of reality.

[DeminPennswoods]

23. The unemployment, hunger, financial distress make

me mad as h---, too. There's no doubt things were exacerbated by Trump and his administration. Our broken, for profit healtcare system plays a big role, too.

My point is, Americans are being needlessly terrified by these medical talking heads on the news and cable news shows. There's no doubt this is a contagious diseases although the mortality rate appears to be declining.

TBH, all this fear-mongering has produced its own blowback of defiance - bringing out the strong libertarian streak in Americans imho. If the information was presented more calmly with better perspective and less "hair on fire" reporting, I suspect there would be much more co-operation.

[PatrickforO]

20. Because of Trump and his reckless homicide.

His utter disregard for the welfare of the American people.

Slime.

[llashram]

21. yep

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_casesper100klast7days

[nitpicker]

26. Thanks for the link

[Richard D]

28. An email I just wrote to Whole Foods

I was just in a local Whole Foods (Canoga Park). One of your employees in the meat department had on only a neck gator (so ineffective as to make no difference), rather than a mask. He was wearing it with his nose and nostrils uncovered. This is truly unacceptable. I was unable to continue shopping. This is not the first time I have seen sloppy mask use in that store, but it was the most blatant and, since he was handling food, the most dangerous.

Unlike with the cashiers, there was no plexiglass separation either. If this guy happened to be an asymptomatic carrier, he could infect many people quite easily. Many who shop at WF do so because they have health challenges and for them, getting COVID19 could be fatal. Please do something about this.

[JudyM]

29. Locking

Dupe data of this earlier post: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142637441 and the remainder is analysis. Please post analysis and opinion pieces in GD instead.