So far, in October, 29 states have set records for increases in new cases. (Representative)
The United States has seen its highest number of new COVID-19 cases in the past two days, making the pandemic a major electoral issue as Vice President Mike Pence travels the country to campaign despite testing positive of his close collaborators.
The United States reported 79,852 new infections on Saturday, near the previous day’s record of 84,244 new cases. Hospitalizations are also increasing and have reached a two-month high and deaths tend to increase, according to a Reuters tally.
So far in October, 29 states have set records for increases in the number of new cases, including five considered key in the November 3 presidential election: Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Cases in the Midwest set a new record on Saturday, and the number of COVID-19 hospital patients in that region hit a record high for the ninth consecutive day.
Hospitals are under strain in several states, including North Dakota, which is hardest hit according to recent new cases per capita, according to a Reuters analysis.
The city of El Paso, Texas is asking residents to stay in their homes for the next two weeks, and El Paso County as a whole has closed its parks and recreation facilities for 14 days.
In addition, an El Paso County judge ordered Sunday night at 10 p.m. 5 a.m. from the curfew due to the COVID crisis. The curfew came into effect immediately, but it does not apply to essential workers or people on the move.
In the past three weeks, the number of COVID-19 hospital patients in the El Paso area has tripled to a record 786, according to state data.
“If we continue this momentum, we risk adverse effects on our entire healthcare system,” the city’s director of public health, Angela Mora, said in a statement.
“For the sake of those hospitalized and frontline healthcare workers who work tirelessly every day to care for them, we ask that you stay home for two weeks and eliminate your interactions with people outside your home. focus until we can flatten the curve.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Saturday called on the federal government to allow the use of an army medical center in Fort Bliss by non-coronavirus patients to ease the burden on hospitals.
On Sunday, Abbott said state emergency management officials would open another care site, initially with 50 beds, at the El Paso Convention and Performing Arts Center this week.
NEW WHITE HOUSE EPIDEMIC
Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, tested positive on Saturday, along with several other senior assistants. Despite the outbreak, the White House said the vice president will continue his campaign, visiting North Carolina on Sunday and Minnesota on Monday.
The new infections were a reminder of how Trump – who was hospitalized for three nights this month after contracting COVID-19 – and those around him played down advice from public health experts to wear masks and ” follow social distancing guidelines to stem COVID-19 transmission.
Asked about CNN’s “State of the Union” why Pence was not following US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to quarantine for 14 days after such exposure, Meadows cited the statute on Sunday. of the Vice-President as “essential staff”.
The latest outbreak follows what health experts described as a widespread White House event on September 26, where President Donald Trump announced his Supreme Court appointment of Amy Coney Barrett.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
