The U.S. recorded its highest single-day death toll since April 30 with 2,597 fatalities, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.
For the fourth day in a row, the number of Americans hospitalized for COVID-19 hit a record-high on Tuesday, with 98,691 people getting inpatient treatment, data from the Covid Tracking Project show.
Climbing deaths and hospitalizations in the U.S. underscore the urgent need to get a coronavirus vaccine approved – but Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisors aren’t scheduled to decide whether to give emergency authorization to Pfizer’s jab until next week, despite the shot getting the green light from officials in the U.K.
More than 180,000 new infections were recorded across the country on Tuesday, with states including Kentucky, California, Delaware, Tennessee, Texas and Arizona, while Florida became the third state in the nation to hit one million coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic.
Single-day death toll records were also set in Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin on Tuesday and hospitalizations reached record highs in Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi, among others.
State officials are citing delays in reporting due to the Thanksgiving holiday as bloating the official tallies, but Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) documents obtained yesterday by CNN showed that the federal government considers almost the entire U.S. a coronavirus ‘hotspot.’
The U.S. recorded 2,597 new coronavirus deaths on Tuesday – the highest single-day death toll since April 30, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University
More than 180,00 new infections were reported on Tuesday, but multiple states told the Covid Tracking Project that they were reporting data from multiple days, which was delayed by the Thanksgiving holiday
The number of Americans hospitalized for coronavirus hit an all-time high of nearly 99,000 on Tuesday, setting a record for the fourth day straight
The Covid Tracking Project clarified: ‘A handful of states reported data for more than one day today, a result of data disruptions caused by the Thanksgiving holiday.
‘On the other hand, CO, NJ, TX, WA, and WY only published partial updates today.’
More than 838,000 new infections have been recorded since Thanksgiving, which former medical adviser to the White House, Dr Jonathan Reiner, told CNN could be ‘the mother of all superspreader events’ as an estimated 50 millions Americans took to the skies, roads and rails to travel for the holiday, despite warnings against gathering from the CDC and Dr Anthony Fauci.
Dr Fauci warned on Monday that the US could see ‘surge upon surge’ leading into the coming Christmas, Hanukkah and New Years. He noted in a Tuesday interview with WNBC that the virus will likely continue to spread rapidly for months to come, until between 75 and 85 percent of Americans get a coronavirus vaccine.
Kentucky reported record-high cases, hospitalizations and deaths on Tuesday
Although Florida has gotten a handle on coronavirus since it became the nation’s top hotspot in the summer, the state became the third in the nation to hit one million total infections since the pandemic began, following California and Texas
He estimated that, with that level of uptake, normalcy might return in the late summer or fall, and that the willingness of New Yorkers to get vaccinated would be particularly important.
‘Since New York has many tourists, it probably is going to be the entire country,’ he told the outlet.
But a vaccine is still at least a week away – and likely more.
Pfizer applied for emergency use authorization of its vaccine on November 20, but the FDA won’t meet to discuss whether or not to approve the request until December 10.
In a bout of mixed messaging, Operation Warp Speed head Dr Moncef Slaoui said Tuesday that the vaccine would be in Americans’ arms starting within 24 to 48 hours of emergency approval. Yet Warp Speed documents obtained by CNN said that the shots were expected to be delivered on December 15, with a four-day window for ‘review.’
It’s unclear which the real delivery date will be, or what more FDA regulators would be reviewing after the public discussion of the shot on the tenth.
Meanwhile, the Uk has already approve the same shot, based on the same data, as of Wednesday. The country also lifted its national lockdown on Wednesday, and Brits will start getting vaccines next week.
It has left many Americans wondering why they must wait at least a week for FDA approval for US firm Pfizer’s coronavirus jab.
A vaccine advisory panel to the CDC met Tuesday and recommended that shots go first to health care workers and long-term care facility residents first in ‘phase 1a’ of distribution. Those recommendations will become policy after a vaccine is authorized, and with the approval of CDC director Dr Robert Redfield.
Operation Warp Speed officials have promised that the first rollout of vaccines will go simultaneously to all 50 states. Although the CDC will issue a policy on who gets vaccinated first, it will ultimately be up to states to decide who gets the vaccines first.
California recorded more infections on Tuesday than it has since the pandemic began, despite being largely locked down
The US is still at least a week away from a vaccine being rolled out despite Britain approving the Pfizer jab on Wednesday (left). FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn was summoned to the White House Tuesday to explain why it is taking so long to approve a vaccine (right)
President Donald Trump and his deputies are privately admonishing FDA officials for not moving faster to authorize promising coronavirus vaccines — a push partially motivated by Trump’s desire to claim credit for record-fast vaccine development.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows grilled Commissioner Stephen Hahn and other top FDA officials in meetings this week on their decisions to require more rigorous review of initial data from the first vaccine candidates questioning why the agency won’t authorize a vaccine until after December 10 at the earliest.
Last month Pfizer reported that its shot was more than 90 percent effective, and Moderna announced similarly impressive findings for its jab.
Multiple Trump appointees and even some career civil servants have argued that every day of delay could make a difference for the most vulnerable populations in a life-threatening pandemic.
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White House officials are known to be angry as having the West’s first authorized vaccine was as a key element of Trump’s legacy.
“It’s crazy to imagine the European Union or U.K. may approve a vaccine developed in the United States before us though, right?” said a senior official involved in the process.
Many Americans have complained that another country has approved a US-produced drug before them.
Moderna, another US company, has also developed an effective vaccine which is awaiting approval.
It recently said it would apply to the FDA for emergency approval and injections could be given out by December 21.
Dr Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the FDA, was summoned to the White House on Tuesday to explain why it was taking so long for vaccines to be approved.
The FDA’s approval process is considered more stringent than Britain’s because it analyzes the company’s raw data for the testing.
Speculation has grown that Trump would intervene and fire Dr Hahn if the process didn’t move quicker
British regulators gave the green light to start mass vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech doses which had been produced by a US firm.
The government used emergency powers to rush through the vaccine after ordering 40million doses, and will be the first country to start the long-awaited vaccination process.
British regulators, like EU regulators, rely more on the drug companies’ own analysis of their data but can verify the accuracy of these reports.
Dr Hahn told ABC News: ‘FDA is one of the few regulatory agencies in the world that actually looks at the raw data. We are going to do our own analysis.’
Speculation has grown that Trump would intervene and fire Dr Hahn if the process didn’t move quicker.
On Tuesday, experts voted 13 to 1 to include healthcare workers and care home residents in the first group to receive vaccinations.
Their decision will only take the form of guidance, with state governors deciding how the vaccines will be distributed and allocated.
