Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

How Bad Is US Covid Rebound? ICU Beds Offer Worrying Clue

How Bad Is US Covid Rebound? ICU Beds Offer Worrying Clue

The COVID-19 numbers are a sobering reminder of how brutal the pandemic remains for the US health-care system, and could augur trouble ahead for its Northeast states.

The latest US Covid-19 wave is taking its toll on some states' intensive-care units, with several parts of the country seeing outbreaks that are as bad as ever.

In 15 states, patients with confirmed or suspected Covid are taking up more ICU beds than a year earlier, according to Department of Health and Human Services data. Colorado, Minnesota and Michigan have 41 per cent, 37 per cent and 34 per cent of ICU beds occupied by Covid-19 patients, respectively, the data show.


The dramatic uptick means there's proportionately less space in hospitals for those suffering from other potentially deadly ailments.

"Many of our physicians are at a breaking point," said Ali Mokdad, a professor with the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. "It's not easy to be day in and day out in an emergency room, in an ICU, looking at someone who is dying because he or she is not vaccinated."

Trouble Ahead


The numbers are a sobering reminder of how brutal the pandemic remains for the US health-care system, and could augur trouble ahead for Northeast states, where cases began surging a few weeks after the Midwest and Rocky Mountains.

Despite the widespread availability of vaccines, the fast-spreading delta variant has shown a frightening capacity to find the most vulnerable people in society. Meanwhile, most states have returned to a semblance of their pre-pandemic lifestyles.

Michigan, which has the highest per-capita case rate in the nation, is encouraging people to get vaccinated and mask up. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services issued a mask advisory on November 19. But Governor Gretchen Whitmer does not plan to issue any new restrictions on public gatherings, said spokesman Bobby Leddy.

The surge begs the question of when the US will finally be able to turn the page on the pandemic. A new Covid-19 pill from Pfizer Inc. is bound to help, as will other therapeutics in the pipeline. Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum last week in Singapore, Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates predicted that the combination of vaccine-induced and natural immunity worldwide and the new oral treatments would bring Covid's impact to flu-like levels by mid-2022 -- a remarkable turnaround if he's right.

Death Count


The US has been reporting more than 1,000 average deaths from Covid every day for more than three months. Increases in fatalities typically follow increases in infections.

In the meantime, it's not clear to what extent any hospital system is safe. Many of the states getting hit now have average vaccination rates -- neither spectacularly high like parts of the Northeast nor especially low like parts of the South. Michigan's 54 per cent full vaccination rate trails the national average of 59 per cent, but Colorado and Minnesota are both doing slightly better than the country as a whole.

In New York, rural areas are seeing positive-test rates of more than 8 per cent, while New York City remains below 2 per cent. State officials have reopened 13 mass vaccination sites and have 200 pop-up sites all over the state to get the vaccines into communities.

"We are heading into a very vulnerable time," New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on Monday at a turkey distribution event. "The good news compared from last year to this year, is that we now have the weapons to fight back."

The vaccines continue to work very well at protecting those who take them, but the societal impact is another matter. Unvaccinated people continue to show a vastly higher rate of hospitalization with Covid-19, according to the latest data from the CDC's Covid-Net surveillance network, which was updated Friday and now includes figures through the end of September.


Mokdad said he doesn't project Covid's overall impact on hospitals will near last winter's levels, but he noted that it was a different story in certain hot spots and everyone should be prepared. "No state is safe," he said.

Maine to Idaho


Maine, which has one of the highest vaccination rates in the US, is setting pandemic hospitalization records with the count of patients nearing 300 in recent days. The surge is strongest among counties with the lowest vaccination rates, according to CDC data.

Idaho on Monday ended hospital-care rationing rules -- with the exception of its northern panhandle where anti-vaccine sentiment runs high -- but the system remains stressed. At St. Luke's Health System, one of Idaho's largest providers, 21 per cent of hospitalized adults are Covid-19 patients while 41 per cent of ICU patients are being treated for the virus, according to Jim Souza, chief physician executive. Fortunately, there have been no "deallocation decisions" where care was withheld, Souza said during an online briefing.

In New Hampshire, where the staffing crisis is dire and cases are reaching new peaks, the capacity crunch reached the point that Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover posted a plea on Facebook asking patients to come to the emergency department only for truly acute health crises.

Hospitalizations in New Jersey, meanwhile, have jumped by 15 per cent in the past week, with those in ICUs up 24 per cent, Governor Phil Murphy said Monday at a virus briefing.

"These numbers are being driven overwhelmingly by unvaccinated individuals," Murphy said.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
×