US sets record for cases amid election battle over virus
Washington DC: The United States set another record for daily confirmed Coronavirus cases as states around the country posted all-time highs, underscoring the vexing issue that confronts the winner of the presidential race.
The surging cases and hospitalisations reflect the challenge that either President Donald Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden will face in the coming months over the pandemic, with winter and the holidays approaching.
Public health experts fear potentially dire consequences, at least in the short term.
Trump's current term does not end until January 20. In the 86 days until then, 100,000 more Americans will likely die from the virus if the nation does not shift course, said Dr Robert Murphy, executive director of the Institute for Global Health at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, echoing estimates from other public health experts.
Daily new confirmed Coronavirus cases in the US have surged 45 per cent over the past two weeks, to a record seven-day average of 86,352, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University. Deaths are also on the rise, up 15 per cent to an average of 846 deaths every day. The total US death toll is already more than 232,000 and the total confirmed US cases have surpassed 90 lakh. Those are the highest totals in the world and new infections are increasing in nearly every state.
Several states on Wednesday reported grim numbers that are fuelling the national trends. Texas reported 9,048 new cases and 126 deaths, and the number of Coronavirus patients in Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma hospitals also set records. About a third of the new cases in Texas happened in hard-hit El Paso, where a top health official said hospitals are at a "breaking point".
"Where we are is in an extremely dire place as a country. Every metric that we have is trending in the wrong direction. This is a virus that will continue to escalate at an accelerated speed and that is not going to stop on its own," said Dr Leana Wen, a public health expert at the George Washington University.
Dr Susan Bailey, president of the American Medical Association, said there are things Americans can do now to help change the trajectory.
"Regardless of the outcome of the election, everyone in America needs to buckle down," Bailey said. "A lot of us have gotten kind of relaxed about physically distancing, not washing our hands quite as often as we used to, maybe not wearing our masks quite as faithfully. We all need to realise that things are escalating and we have got to be more careful than ever,"
she said.
