State Submits Vaccine Orders As Coronavirus Deaths Increase – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports

Columbus, Ohio (AP) —The state faced a deadline for ordering a coronavirus vaccine on Friday as many reported record infections, hospitalizations, and deaths while hospitals were being pushed to the limit.

According to the COVID Tracking Project, the number of Americans hospitalized for COVID-19 reached a record high of 100,667 on Thursday in the United States. According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, this number has more than doubled in the past month, with an average of 210,000 new cases per day and an average of 1,800 deaths per day.

Arizona reported more than 5,000 new COVID-19 cases on Friday for the second consecutive day, as the number of beds in intensive care units available fell below 10% across the state. Hospital officials said the outbreak would exceed the hospital’s capacity this month.

The state’s health director said on Friday that he hopes to get enough new coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year to inoculate more than 383,000 health care workers and residents of care facilities. Next in line are teachers and other essential workers, followed by older Arizonas or those at high risk of otherwise serious cases of COVID-19.

Nevada reported 48 new deaths from the coronavirus on Thursday, marking the most deadly day since the pandemic broke out. One hospital was full and was treating patients with an auxiliary unit in the parking lot.

State officials said on Friday that they expect 164,000 doses this month.

North Carolina reported a record 5,600 new confirmed cases and 2,100 hospitalizations on Thursday, probably waiting for about 85,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine as early as December 15.

Officials said the limited number of health care workers in large hospitals were vaccinated first and prioritized those at greatest risk of exposure to the virus. Future doses will be distributed to more hospitals and community health departments, and then to nursing home staff and residents.

Health officials fear that the pandemic will worsen before it improves, as Thanksgiving’s effects have been delayed and ignored the warning that millions of Americans are at home and celebrating only with their families.

At the same time, the hospital and its workers have reached their limits.

In Pennsylvania, nearly half of all hospitals in the South Central region and one-third of hospitals in the Southwest predicted a shortage within a week, according to the State Department of Health.

The state’s chief health official, Dr. Rachel Levin, said Thursday that 85% of the state’s intensive care unit is occupied and will be full this month, according to modeling. Meanwhile, nurses in the Philadelphia region said the overwhelming number of COVID-19 patients are affecting the quality of care they can provide.

“I always hear from doctors and hospital leaders about how tense the hospital is,” Levine said.

Authorities are also concerned that Americans will be less alert when the state begins vaccination.

Dr. Deborah Birx, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, said many of the most vulnerable populations in the United States can take weeks or months to get vaccinated. Until then, Americans shouldn’t hold meetings indoors with people they don’t live with, or take off their masks when they’re outdoors, and keep a distance from others and wash their hands. she said.

“I think everyone can understand that this current surge we are experiencing is much faster, wider and longer lasting across the United States,” said a conference at United Nations Headquarters in New York. Later Burkes said.

Nationally, the coronavirus is blamed on nearly 277,000 deaths and 14 million confirmed infectious diseases.

An influential modeling group at the University of Washington said on Friday that the deployment of the vaccine in the United States predicts that it will reduce 9,000 deaths by April 1. Prices start in February.

But even with the vaccine, if the state doesn’t act to control the current surge, the death toll could reach 770,000 by April 1, the group said.

Only this week, the state learned how and when to administer it, and received guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend first doses to healthcare professionals and nursing home patients. In other words, some people had to make last-minute adjustments.

Dr. Michel Fiscus, Medical Director of the Tennessee Department of Health’s Immunization Program, told a webinar on Friday, “Planning what you can do in 2020 and expecting things that you never dreamed of happened. Taught me. ” “I don’t know how many plans we crumpled and thrown away.”

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said nursing home residents, along with front-line healthcare professionals, will receive the first dose in his state.

“These are the people most likely to suffer from complications. These are probably the dead elderly people. And these are the people most likely to go to the hospital,” Lamont said Thursday. Connecticut will receive the first shipment of 31,000 doses of vaccine from Pfizer on 14 December and the first shipment of 61,000 from Moderna on 21 December.

But the state also balanced economic concerns and protected essential workers.

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly called for the state’s vaccine program to give first injections to front-line health care workers at high risk of coronavirus exposure, such as nursing home workers and nursing home residents. He said he was. Meat packaging factory workers and grocery store employees line up next, along with the first responders.

In Ohio, healthcare workers and other people caring for COVID-19 patients, as well as emergency care recipients, will be in the first line of vaccines, Republican Governor Mike DeWine said Friday. Next are the vulnerable people who live with them and their caregivers, such as residents and staff in nursing homes and support facilities.

The Governor said the combined dose of Pfizer and Moderna is expected to exceed 500,000 by the end of December, with the first distribution starting on December 15. The Ohio warned against vigilance.

“We are in a very dangerous situation … we can’t get our hospital to the point where medical care is threatened,” DeWine said. “The curfew, wearing masks, and retail inspections helped, but not enough. You’ll have to do more. You have no choice.”

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