More than 450,000 people have died from viruses in the United States.Daily tolls are stubbornly high

Coronavirus deaths in the U.S. exceeded 450,000 on Thursday, maintaining a stubborn high daily death to over 3,000 per day, despite the decline in infections and the arrival of multiple infections. I will. vaccine..

Infectious disease experts expect deaths to begin to decline soon after new cases peak early in the year. The new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said new deaths from COVID-19 could be reduced as early as next week.

However, there is also the risk that improved infections and hospitalization habits can be offset by people relaxing and gathering to watch football.

“Honestly, I’m worried about the Super Bowl Sundae,” Dr. Rochelle Warrensky said in an interview with The Associated Press Thursday.

One of the reasons the number of cases and hospitalizations haven’t increased as dramatically as they did a few weeks ago, according to Valensky, is that holiday gatherings are less effective.

The impact on death is delayed. In the last two weeks alone, the number of casualties per day has risen to 50,000.

“We’re still in a pretty bad place,” she said.

The country reported 3,912 COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, down from the peak of the pandemic of 4,466 on January 12.

California has been the number one cause of deaths in the United States over the past month, with an average of more than 500 deaths per day in recent weeks.

Dora Padilla was one of the thousands of Californians who died last month.

The 86-year-old daughter of a Mexican immigrant served as a school councilor for the Alhambra Unified School District in Southern California for 20 years after helping her children’s parent volunteers and band boosters. She was one of the few Latino Americans in the elected position at the time.

She tested positive at the facility she lived in in December and then saw a fever and reduced oxygen levels. The facility was to call an ambulance, but her daughter Lisa Jones said her daughter Lisa Jones decided to treat her there amid a surge in infections that flooded local hospitals with virus patients.

“They were ready to call an ambulance, but realized she had nowhere to go. She would reach a corridor somewhere,” Jones said.

Padilla had been stable for days and seemed to improve, but suddenly became ill again before she died.

“I’m still a little numb,” her daughter said.

California’s experience reflects much of the inequality that has been exposed since the pandemic began almost a year ago, and people in color have been particularly hit.

For example, Latin Americans make up 46% of all California deaths, even though they make up 39% of the state’s population. The situation has deteriorated in recent months. The daily death toll of Latin Americans in November was 3.5 per 100,000, but last week it reached 40 per 100,000.

Alabama is another hotspot. The average 7-day moving average there has increased from 74 to 147 per day in the last two weeks. Deaths have also skyrocketed in Kentucky, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Dr. Thomas Holland of Duke University said the most hit demographic groups remain the oldest and most vulnerable.

When Coronavirus First swept across the country, it focused on nursing homes, prisons and other collective care environments. After that, it became more widespread.

“But deaths are still concentrated in older patients and those with other health problems,” the Netherlands said.

In Florida, for example, 83% of viral deaths were people over the age of 65.

Still, that alone is not enough to encourage you to wear a mask. In a recent viral video from Oakes Farms Seed to Table, a local grocery store in Naples, Florida, both maskless customers and employees chatted and laughed, without social distance.

The store’s owner, Alfie Oaks, told NBC’s “Today” show that he knew the masks wouldn’t work and didn’t think the coronavirus had killed hundreds of thousands of people in the United States.

“It’s perfect shit,” Oaks said. “Why don’t you close the world for a heart attack? Would you like to block the city for a heart attack?”

He didn’t return the call from AP on Thursday.

Public health experts are watching Florida closely this week as the Super Bowl takes place in Tampa. City leaders and the NFL are trying to secure social distance by limiting participation to 22,000, one-third of the stadium’s capacity. Still, there are activities that attract people, such as parties, bars and club events.

Most infected people recover, but others face a much longer journey. It can take a week or two to get sick and go to the hospital. After that, seriously ill people can enter the ICU for weeks and some die.

“Patients who do not go well often attend these long and highly stormy courses, and those who die are usually weeks after hospitalization,” said the Netherlands.

Although COVID treatments have evolved over time, there has been no “breakthrough miracle treatment” comparable to vaccine development.

“There are some margins that can help,” says Holland.

Among them, the use of steroids for patients in need of oxygen, different ventilator strategies, and prevention and management of blood clots. Monoclonal antibodies may also be used for outpatients who do not need oxygen in the early stages of the disease but may be at high risk of complications.

In addition, the test changes helped.

“Obviously, if people know they’re infected, they’re more likely to stay home and do what they need to do, such as quarantine or quarantine,” he said.

In the future, it is a major concern how the virus will change and move to new strains that are highly infectious and can avoid or create antibody products. vaccine The effect is low.

“We have always been in the race,” said the Netherlands. “But now that the race to vaccinate people fast enough to delay infection has begun, it is far less likely that the virus will mutate and change, causing problems with these strains. It’s obvious. “

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New York City Associated Press writer Mike Stobbe and Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg, Florida contributed to this report.