December 8th, local time, the latest statistics showed that the number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in the United States has reached a record of 104,600, of which 20,483 are being treated in intensive care units and 7,245 are on ventilators. The data shows that the affordability of American hospitals is already in a complete need.
However, the American media pointed out that at present, there are still a considerable number of people and municipal government officials across the country who travel as usual, and even oppose epidemic prevention regulations. Analysis believes that the United States is obviously waiting for a worse moment not far ahead.
Hospitals across the country are in urgent need, and the lack of beds means that “death” is imminent.
The New York Times noted that more than one-third of the nation’s Americans currently live in areas with severe hospital resources, and even intensive care units are occupied by coronavirus patients. Major U.S. hospitals serving more than 100 million people said recently that their intensive care beds were in short supply as early December, with less than 15% left.
The report pointed out that the situation is even worse in the Midwest, South and Southwest of the United States. In these areas, one in ten of the places near which intensive care beds are less than 5%, or are full. Medical staff said that the shortage of resources means that nursing standards are not in place or even completely missing.
Beth Brauer, director of the Center for Civic Impact at Johns Hopkins University, warned that due to the rapid development of the coronavirus epidemic, there are so many resources for front-line medical services, especially in remote but epidemic-stricken counties, and even more scarce medical resources, which pose great challenges to treatment. The lack of medical resources means that ” The patient will die.
△ The New York Times pointed out that more than one-third of the country’s Americans currently live in areas with severe shortage of hospital resources, and even intensive care units are occupied by coronavirus patients.
Children’s hospitals rescue adult patients, insufficient resources are “worried”
In the early stage of the outbreak, compared with teenagers and adults, children seem to have largely escaped viral infection. Therefore, in order to help cope with the shortage of hospital resources, the American Children’s Hospital Association decided to share the pressure of adult hospitals in April to help treat more patients, so it adopted the adoption of pediatric patients in general hospitals. Measures such as raising the age limit for admission to children’s hospitals. Since November, even children’s hospitals have begun to open to adult patients, accepting adult patients with non-coronavirus patients, to help general hospitals focus their resources on treating more coronavirus patients.
The New York Times noted that the aid actions of children’s hospitals illustrate the “seriousness of this crisis”. But since August, the number of children infected with the novel coronavirus has risen sharply, and children’s hospitals are beginning to feel the pressure of resource shortages clearly.
“We are currently more limited in treating pediatric critical illnesses nationwide,” said Brian Cummings, an intensive care unit physician at the Children’s Hospital of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. At present, the hospital’s demand for children’s intensive care beds has greatly increased, and the bed resources are “more scarce”, which makes child care workers “very worried”.
△ The New York Times pointed out that since August, the statistics of children infected with the novel coronavirus have risen sharply, and children’s hospitals have begun to feel the pressure of resource shortage.
California ICU urgently asked the government to order stay at home, and the city hall actually voted to “stand up its own door”
CNN pointed out that on December 6, California reported a daily increase of more than 30,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, the highest in the state. As of that date, the state’s most populous Southern California area had reduced the capacity of intensive care beds to 10.3% and the capacity of ICUs in the central San Joaquin Valley region to 6.6%. That night, California issued another stay-at-home quarantine order.
However, in the face of the quarantine order, many municipalities in California are not worried about the safety of their lives, but that reopening of commercial premises will hit the local economy hard, so they all said they did not obey and began to prepare to “form their own health department”.
The New York Times reported that although local jurisdictions in the United States do not have formal procedures to allow self-establishment health departments, West Covina, Lancaster, Beverly Hills and other places in Los Angeles County have recently initiated and voted to prepare to establish or join areas with independent health departments. The report pointed out that even cities with severe epidemics such as Hawaiian Gardens, Comus, Inglewood and West Hollywood have begun to consider following suit and starting their own businesses.
△ The New York Times pointed out that many municipalities in California, worried that closing commercial places again would hit the local economy hard, and began to prepare to “form their own health department”.
People are still traveling, and the worst is waiting ahead.
The media pointed out that in addition to local governments opposing epidemic prevention restrictions, people across the United States also went to visit during Thanksgiving despite the warnings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Thanksgiving Day on November 26 alone, on average, about 22% of the population in the United States was not at home, and one in eight people traveled at least 30 miles. In Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming, 80% of its counties have a higher proportion of residents traveling than the national average.
△ Bloomberg pointed out that although the United States has set records for increasing new cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the past week, the “worst moment” has not yet arrived.
It can be seen that at the height of the epidemic, millions of Americans ignored the CDC’s holiday epidemic prevention guidelines, which is also one of the reasons why the epidemic in the United States is difficult to control. Bloomberg noted that while the United States has set record-higher numbers of rising cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in the past week, the “worst moment” has not yet arrived. Experts have warned that small gatherings may aggravate the current epidemic again, and the worst may be ahead.
