As new daily coronavirus cases surge in the US, several state leaders are urging their residents to stay at home to slow the spread of the deadly virus. More than 150,000 new coronavirus cases were reported in the US on Thursday, marking the highest number of new cases the country has seen in a day since the beginning of the pandemic.
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As a result of the spike in new COVID-19 cases, hospitals across the nation have reached or are quickly approaching capacity, with nationwide hospitalizations nearly doubling since October. Many of the states experiencing the biggest surges do not have mask mandates in place.
For more than a week, the country has seen more than 100,000 new cases per day.
New daily cases of coronavirus have topped 100,000 for 10 days straight, and show little sign of decreasing any time soon as cases continue to increase day-over-day. The White House Task Force has warned states of "accelerating" coronavirus spread.
The White House urges more testing.
The White House Task Force report distributed to states on Tuesday suggested that states should increase testing. "There is continued, accelerating community spread across the top half of the country, where temperatures have cooled and Americans have moved indoors," the report explained.
The 'Sunbelt' and the Midwest continue to be problematic areas.
Last week's White House Task Force report stated there has been "significant deterioration in the Sunbelt," which includes states like Texas which has now topped 1 million coronavirus cases and Florida where nearly 18,000 people have died from the infection.
Hospitals in Wisconsin and North Dakota are struggling.
With new cases topping more than 7,000 per day in Wisconsin, the state's hospitals are at over 90% capacity, and in North Dakota, which has no mask requirement, hospitals are completely full and experiencing staff shortages.
Wisconsin's governor says stay home.
"Wisconsin, this is serious. This crisis is urgent," said Gov. Tony Evers in a press conference on Tuesday night, urging residents to stay home but stopping short of mandating it. "It's not safe to go out, it’s not safe to have others over—it's just not safe. And it might not be safe for a while yet," he said.
Nevada has issued a voluntary stay-at-home order.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak has initiated what he's calling "Stay at Home 2.0" a voluntary order asking residents to stay home so he doesn't have to shut down the state.
States in the Northeast are imposing new restrictions.
A number of states in the Northeast, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey, all issued new restrictions this week, banning restaurants and bars from serving indoors between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., urging residents to stay home during those hours.
Ohio governor warns restrictions are coming.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine warned on Wednesday that if residents did not "recommit" to safety measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, more restrictions would soon be put in place.
"If the current trend continues and cases keep increasing, we will be forced to make these closures,” he said. "I am very well aware of the burden this will place on employees and owners, but these are places where it is difficult or impossible to maintain mask-wearing, which we know now is the chief way of slowing this virus."
The CDC has updated mask recommendations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Tuesday that it now believes that masks protect both the wearer and those around them from the novel coronavirus, an update from its previous stance that the purpose of widespread mask wearing was predominantly to keep asymptomatic individuals from infecting others.
Masks reduce the risk of transmission significantly.
The CDC report says that various studies have shown that the appropriate use of multi-layer cloth masks can not only block 50 to 70% of fine droplets and particles, but also "limit the forward spread of those that are not captured" by the mask.
Mask wearing may be able to prevent lockdown.
"Adopting universal masking policies can help avert future lockdowns, especially if combined with other non-pharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing, hand hygiene, and adequate ventilation," the CDC asserted.
Still, many states have not mandated mask wearing.
The Trump administration has been consistently resistant to issuing a nationwide mask mandate and has even blocked smaller scale mask mandates such as its move to block the CDC from mandating mask-wearing on public transportation in October. There are currently over a dozen states without mask mandates including Florida, Arizona, Iowa, and Missouri.
It's unclear what action will result from the CDC recommendation.
It is too soon to know whether the CDC's updated recommendations will result in stricter mask mandates at either the state level or the national level, or whether plans for a unified approach may be in the works.
No state is trending in the right direction.
"As the virus continues running unabated across American communities, not a single state is trending in the right direction. And 44 states have reported at least 10% more new cases than the previous week—11 of which reported at least a 50% increase," CNN reported on Wednesday.
People are looking to Joe Biden's COVID-19 plan and the vaccine.
As the coronavirus crisis continues to grow throughout the country during this second and in some cases third wave with seemingly little hope for improvement in the coming weeks, many people are looking forward to the availability of the COVID-19 vaccine in the spring, while others are wondering whether President-elect Joe Biden's coronavirus plan will help bridge the gap until widespread immunity can be achieved. Biden's plan will largely focus on increased testing, mask mandates, and dissemination of information.
