Coronavirus hospitalizations in the U.S. have reached a historic record since Monday, with more than 121,000 people hospitalized across the country, according to the COVID Screening Project.
This figure includes 22,592 intensive care patients, a 16% increase in capacity in September to 40%.
A continued increase could put overburdened hospitals in a position to ration care, CNN medical analyst Jonathan Reiner said in an interview with the network.
“If you don’t have respirators, you don’t have nurses to care for patients, you don’t have ICU beds, we will have to have these terrible discussions with families, that is why people need to stay at home, and when they leave, they need to use a mask, “he said.
States are also experiencing record levels of hospitalizations. On Monday, Texas reported 11,351 patients, exceeding the July 22 discharge of 10,893. The Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Board said the area also peaked at 3,476, according to a local ABC affiliate.
North Carolina also reached a new record for hospitalizations on Monday, according to data from the state Department of Health and Human Services. In the past six weeks, the number of adults in the state’s intensive care units for the virus has doubled, while general hospitalizations for coronavirus have doubled in the last 38 days, according to Raleigh News & Observer.
“If you asked someone in March, I don’t think anyone would have predicted that we would be where we are today, still fighting this pandemic,” UNC Health Care Johnston President and CEO Tom Williams told the newspaper.
Meanwhile, Arkansas registered its own new peak of coronavirus hospitalizations on Monday, at 1,155.
“It will take a few days to know if the increase in hospitalizations is a result of the accumulation after the long weekend of Christmas,” said the governor. Asa Hutchinson
Asa HutchinsonEconomists warn against exclusion of state aid from relief COVID-19 Bipartisan governors ask Congress to approve the coronavirus aid package Tarnishing the presidential election will drive away young voters and undermine democracy MORE (R) said, according to a local ABC affiliate. “Despite everything, the high number of cases continues to damage our health system.”