The Covid-19 pandemic is getting worse. What happens next depends on you.

The Covid-19 pandemic is getting worse. What happens next depends on you.

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It turns out that the first two weeks were terrible.

The United States has just broken its historical records for most Covid-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths reported in one day:

– On January 2, a record 302,506 new infections were reported in one day, according to Johns Hopkins University.

That’s an average of 3.5 people being infected every second.

– On January 6, a record 132,447 patients were hospitalized with Covid-19, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

Many hospitals are now overcrowded, which means that even those without Covid-19 – say, victims of car accidents – may not receive immediate care.

– On January 12, a record 4,462 Covid-19 deaths were reported in just one day, according to Johns Hopkins.

A Boeing 747 can carry around 400 passengers. This means that, in one day, deaths in the United States by Covid-19 amounted to 11 falling jumbo jets, killing everyone on board.

Why is this happening?

People are letting their guard down due to pandemic fatigue. And many of those who are tired of taking precautions are getting sick.
Now that the weather is colder, more people are socializing inside the home. And the coronavirus spreads mainly during close contact with other people through respiratory droplets – produced when someone speaks, coughs, sings or even breathes.
Over 90,000 Americans could die from Covid-19 in the next 3 weeks, shows the CDC composite forecast
Sometimes, viral particles can “stay in the air for minutes to hours,” said the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
“These viruses can infect people who are more than 6 meters away from the infected person or after that person has left the site,” said the CDC.
Socializing indoors with anyone outside your bubble – even if it’s just a friend – is risky. Meeting with several friends at home can be dangerous.

“If you go to a party with five or more people, there will almost certainly be someone with Covid-19 at that party,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

Want to go out with some friends (without a mask)? Make a Covid-19 bubble - and squeeze it

One reason the coronavirus spreads so easily is because people can be contagious without knowing they are infected – and they can transmit the virus without looking or feeling bad.

The CDC estimates that more than 50% of all infections are transmitted by people who have no symptoms.

“This means that at least half of the new infections come from people who are probably unaware that they are infectious to others,” the agency said.

What is the difference between asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic propagation?
And just as doctors predicted, vacation trips and meetings sparked new waves of infections, hospitalizations and deaths across the country.
Recovering patients from Covid-19 struggle to return to normal after hospital discharge, according to study

The consequences of the holidays may still spread across the United States in the coming weeks.

“It takes two to three weeks for patients to be sick enough to need the hospital after they have contracted the virus,” said Dr. Anish Mahajan, medical director at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

Although Christmas was less than three weeks ago, “we are already full”.

“We no longer have the capacity in the ICU,” said Mahajan. “All hospitals in the region are placing ICU patients in unusual places in the hospital just to find space for them.”

Some patients were placed in hospital break rooms, parking garages and gift shops.

So, there are newly identified variants

New for 2021: the United States has confirmed at least 76 cases of a highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus, first detected in the United Kingdom.

These cases in the U.S. have been found in 12 states: California, Florida, Minnesota, New York, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Texas, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin and Georgia, according to CDC data published on Wednesday.

Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine appears to work against the mutation in new strains of coronavirus.
But the real numbers could be much higher because the United States is behind dozens of other countries in the proportion of Covid-19 cases that are analyzed using genetic sequencing.
And the United States ranks 61st in how quickly virus samples are collected from patients, analyzed and posted to an international database to find new variants.
Earlier this month, a CDC official said the agency plans to double the number of samples it sequences by mid-January – with a target of 6,500 a week.

Understanding the genetic makeup of a virus and how it changes is critical to ensuring that vaccines remain effective.

All viruses mutate over time and new variants are common.

But scientists advising the UK government estimate that the variant may be up to 70% more effective in spreading than others.

While it may be more transmissible, there is no evidence that this variant first detected in the UK is more deadly or causes more serious illness, said the CDC.

Scientists fear South Africa's 'mutant escape' strain could decrease vaccine effectiveness

But the strain first detected in the UK is not the only one that causes concern.

A variant first detected in South Africa has shown that it can escape some of the antibodies produced by a Covid-19 vaccine.

This strain was first detected two months ago in South Africa and was found in 12 countries. Until Thursday, it had not been detected in the United States.

Why can’t we all get vaccinated soon?

The vaccine is launching more slowly than expected.
The Trump administration initially said it intended to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of 2020.
Trump administration changes course and adopts part of Biden vaccine distribution plan
This did not happened. Not even close.

As of Thursday morning, about 10.2 million doses of vaccine were administered, out of about 29.3 million doses distributed in the United States, according to the CDC.

And the two vaccines now distributed in the United States – from Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna – require two doses for each person.

The federal government recently said it will stop retaining the doses held in reserve – designed to help ensure the second dose – so that more people can receive the first dose more quickly.
When can you be vaccinated? It depends on your health, work and where you live.
In the coming weeks and months, the US Food and Drug Administration may grant emergency use authorization for other vaccines – such as those from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca.

But in any case, millions of Americans will have to wait months before receiving a vaccine.

What does all this mean for you

If you want to get life closer to normal (and faster), it’s time to double the security measures:

Wear a mask in public and whenever you are around someone who doesn’t live with you. If there is a possibility of infection in your home, use a mask as well.
Covid-19 can be a prolonged illness, even for young adults, says the CDC
Don’t count on a negative test result as a way to see friends or relatives “safely”. You can test negative, but still be infected and contagious.

Keep social distance. Wash your hands frequently. And don’t think that you are invincible – even if you are young and healthy.

“We see serious illness among healthy young adults, with no apparent underlying causes,” said Hotez.

“Whether due to … a higher dose of the virus, if they have genetic changes that they don’t know about – we just don’t understand,” he said.

“Therefore, we cannot safely predict who will handle this virus well and who will not.”

Elizabeth Cohen, Maggie Fox, Michael Nedelman and Amanda Watts of CNN contributed to this report.

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