Data newly released from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows at least 200 hospitals were at full capacity last week, CNN reported Dec. 10. Coronavirus patients occupied 46% of all staffed ICU beds—up from 37% in the first week of November. Hospitalizations reached a record high of 107,248 on Dec. 10, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
Indication of the incredible spread of COVID-19: on Sept 7, there were 25,906 cases of new COVID-19 infections among Americans, and the vector appeared to be headed downward; on Dec. 10, there were 217,729 new cases of COVID-19 infections in the U.S., an 8.5-fold increase since Sept. 7. This is leading to the huge strain on America’s greatly inadequate healthcare delivery capacity. Better treatment has lowered the mortality rate, but even with that, just in the week of Dec. 3-9, there were 16,850 Americans who died of COVID-19
