The US set a new record for coronavirus deaths reported in a single day on Wednesday with 3,400 amid troubles with the vaccine rollout.
The harrowing tally from the COVID Tracking Project marked the fourth time daily deaths have exceeded 3,000 throughout the pandemic. All four have occurred in the last week.
The nationwide seven-day average for daily new fatalities now stands at 2,507, with a total of more than 306,000 to date.
Hospitalizations also set a new record on Wednesday with 113,069. The number of people hospitalized has exceeded 100,000 for 15 days in a row, with daily increases every day since December 5.
More than 230,700 new cases were reported – an increase of more than 41,000 from Tuesday. The total case load of more than 16.87 million represents roughly five percent of the US population.
vCard.red is a free platform for creating a mobile-friendly digital business cards. You can easily create a vCard and generate a QR code for it, allowing others to scan and save your contact details instantly.
The platform allows you to display contact information, social media links, services, and products all in one shareable link. Optional features include appointment scheduling, WhatsApp-based storefronts, media galleries, and custom design options.
The latest statistics followed several hiccups in the distribution of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, including the first allergic reaction to an inoculation in the US reported in Alaska on Wednesday, and the manufacturer’s announcement that it would deliver about 900,000 fewer doses next week than are set to ship this week.
In more positive news, the Food and Drug Administration revealed on Wednesday night that Pfizer overfilled vials of its vaccine by up to 40 percent, allowing more people to be vaccinated if clinicians use every drop in the tiny glass bottles.
The apparent mistake means Pfizer is shipping enough vaccine to give 4.06 million Americans their first dose, instead of the intended 2.9 million doses, according to Politico.
The US set a new record for coronavirus deaths reported in a single day on Wednesday, per the COVID Tracking Project. It marked the fourth time daily deaths have exceeded 3,000 throughout the pandemic – all four taking place in the last week
The nationwide seven-day average for daily new fatalities now stands at 2,507, with a total of more than 306,000 to date
Hospitalizations also set a new record on Wednesday with 113,069. The number of people hospitalized has exceeded 100,000 for 15 days in a row, with daily increases every day since December 5
A technician assists a patient into a chair to receive an ultrasound in the COVID-19 alternative care site, built into a parking garage, at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, on Wednesday
In other COVID-19 news today:
- California set a new record for daily new cases and deaths with 53,711 and 293, respectively
- The seven-day average for deaths is rising in 23 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and Vermont
- Rollout of the first tranche of 2.9 million doses Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE’s vaccine continued for a third full day, with shipments headed to 66 more distribution hubs nationwide
- Companies shipping the vaccines vowed that a powerful winter storm moving into the East Coast would not disrupt distribution
- Reports claimed Vice President Mike Pence is planning to get a vaccine at the White House on live TV on Friday in order to boost Americans’ confidence in the shot
- Dr Anthony Fauci urged Americans not to see their children at Christmas and said he won’t be spending the holidays with his adult daughters for the first time since they were born
The US on Wednesday expanded its campaign to deliver vaccine shots into the arms of doctors and nurses on the frontlines of a pandemic, even as a major winter storm threatened to slow progress on the East Coast.
While medical professionals at a growing number of hospitals rolled up their sleeves, lawmakers on Capitol Hill said they were nearing a long-elusive bipartisan deal on $900billion in economic relief to help bolster a US economy ravaged by the pandemic.
Rollout of the first tranche of 2.9 million doses of a newly authorized vaccine from Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE continued for a third full day, with shipments headed to 66 more distribution hubs nationwide.
A second vaccine from Moderna Inc could win emergency-use approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week.
Express delivery companies FedEx and UPS, sharing a leading role in vaccine shipments, said they were monitoring the potential impacts of heavy snow and ice that had begun to disrupt transportation systems along the Eastern Seaboard on Wednesday.
US Army General Gustave Perna, overseeing the government’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine campaign, said FedEx and UPS have developed strategies for bad weather, including plans to keep any delayed vaccine shipments secure until they can be ‘delivered the next day’.
‘We are on track with all the deliveries we said we were doing,’ Perna told reporters at a briefing.
Some 570 other vaccine distribution centers received the bulk of the initial batch of shipments on Monday and Tuesday, and an even larger wave was due for delivery to 886 additional locations on Friday, Perna said.
From each distribution site, vaccine doses were divvied up among area hospitals and administered to healthcare workers, designated as first in line to be immunized. Some were also going to residents and staff of long-term care facilities. Later vaccine rounds will go to other essential workers, senior citizens and people with chronic health conditions.
President-elect Joe Biden, who has said he would get the vaccine publicly to help instill confidence in its safety, is expected to receive his first injection as soon as next week, according to his transition team.
Intensive care nurse Sandra Lindsay was among the first in the country to receive a COVID-19 shot on Monday morning at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens pictured
It will take several months before vaccines are widely available to the public on demand, and opinion polls have found many Americans hesitant about getting inoculated.
Political leaders and medical authorities in the meantime have launched a media blitz assuring Americans that the vaccines are safe while urging them to avoid growing weary of social distancing and mask-wearing while the pandemic rages on.
‘It is not over yet,’ Dr Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, told CBS News on Wednesday. ‘Public health measures are the bridge to get to the vaccine, which is going to get us out of this.’
Data shows surging COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are driving healthcare systems to the breaking point across much of the country, with many intensive care units at or near capacity.
Health experts have warned the death toll will rise higher still in the weeks ahead, even as the vaccine campaign steadily expands.
Another two million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 5.9 million doses of the Moderna vaccine could be allocated next week, Health Secretary Alex Azar said on a conference call on Wednesday. Two doses of the vaccines, given three or four weeks apart, would be required for each person being inoculated.
In all, the United States had options to buy up to 300 million doses of those vaccines, Azar said, plus hundreds of millions more doses of vaccines that have yet to receive approval, including some single-dose drugs.
The US could have a surplus supply of vaccines in the future, if all the vaccines it has secured are authorized for use, Azar said, which could eventually benefit other countries.
The Trump administration was also in talks to secure additional antibody treatment doses from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Eli Lilly and Co, Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Moncef Slaoui told the same conference call.