The US has hit the highest daily number of new cases since the pandemic began

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https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/08/health/us-coronavirus-sunday/index.html

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN
Updated 4:44 PM ET, Sun November 8, 2020

 

After a week of dauntingly high numbers in all parameters of the pandemic, the United States has reached another sobering mark: its highest number of new daily Covid-19 cases since the virus entered the country.

On Saturday, there were 126,742 new coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. The record marked the fourth day last week that new cases totaled more than 100,000 and the third day in a row that new cases topped more than 120,000, according to a CNN analysis.

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"It's not just the cases; it's the hospitalizations as well. That's really the number to watch: 53,000 people hospitalized, 10,500 people in ICUs. That's a lot, and it's growing very quickly."

Sixteen states reported record high Covid-19 hospitalizations Friday, according to the Covid Tracking Project, and 22 states have reported at least one record high day of coronavirus hospitalizations during November, so far. Since the pandemic started, more than 9.9 million people have been infected in the US and 237,484 have died of the virus, according to Johns Hopkins.

On Sunday morning, the global number of cases topped 50 million, with the US, India, Brazil and Russia, in that order, the hardest hit, composing more than half the cases, Johns Hopkins reports. 

 

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Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician at Brown University, said she's optimistic about Biden's transition plans for leading the country's response, but said the virus will "have already run rampant through communities across the United States" by the time he takes office.

 

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Though the death toll has climbed, the rate of cases that have resulted in fatalities has seemingly decreased, and Fauci said that is due to "age, experience and better drugs."

 

As with all diseases, health professionals learn more about the virus as it goes on, including when to put people on ventilators, Fauci said Saturday.

 

"We just get better at treating people," he said. "You (know) what works. You know what doesn't work, including just fundamental, nonpharmacological approaches."

The use of treatments that can help people, such as dexamethasone and remdesivir, has also further developed, he said. 

 

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As researchers learn more about the virus, they're noticing that the impacts can drag on, Fauci said.
Some patients have reported symptoms lasting even after they have tested negative from a coronavirus infection. 

"We do know for absolutely certain that there is a post-Covid-19 syndrome -- referred to sometimes as long Covid, chronic Covid, long haulers," Fauci said during the AMA event.

"We're seeing variable percentages, and anywhere from 25 to 35% or more have lingering symptoms -- well beyond what you'd expect post any viral syndrome, like influenza and others," he said.

Symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, muscle aches, sleep disturbances and what is referred to as "brain fog."
"So, there's no doubt that it's going on, that (it) can last anywhere from weeks to months," he said, adding that it could be longer, but that isn't known because the novel virus was discovered less than a year ago.