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US Covid death toll hits 250,000 and shows no sign of slowing

Coronavirus crisis in the USA
The USA has by far the highest Covid-19 death toll in the world (Picture: Getty Images)

The coronavirus death toll in the USA has topped 250,000, as fears grow that hospitals in the country are becoming overwhelmed.

Conditions in medical centres across the states are deteriorating by the day, with the number of people in the hospital with Covid-19 doubling in the past month – and setting new records every day this week.

As of Tuesday, nearly 77,000 people were hospitalised with the virus – and there are warnings that some facilities will be forced to ration care or even turn patients away. 

Meanwhile, the daily case count is running at an average of around 160,000. That’s a surge of more than 80% over the past two weeks, to the highest levels on record.

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The number of deaths in the US continues to rise as hospitals become overwhelmed (Picture: Worldometer)
The number of deaths in the US continues to rise as hospitals become overwhelmed (Picture: Worldometer)

Cases are growing in all 50 states and nationwide deaths are now averaging more than 1,155 per day – the highest in months.

The only health care system in the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee and Virginia is warning that it is stretched so thin that it is only a matter of time before its hospitals will have to turn patients away.

The health system reported having just 16 available ICU beds and about 250 team members in isolation or quarantine. It is trying to recruit hundreds more nurses.

In Idaho, doctors warned that hospitals have almost reached the point where they need to ration care, unable to treat everyone because there are not enough beds or staffers to go around.

Dr Jim Souza, chief medical officer for St Luke’s Health System, said: ‘Never in my career did I think we would even contemplate the idea of rationing care in the United States of America.’

NEW YORK, USA - NOVEMBER 18: A man is getting her coronavirus test as people line up for free COVID-19 test ahead of Thanksgiving in Queens of New York City, United States on November 18, 2020. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
A health worker swabs one person as people line up for free Covid-19 tests ahead of Thanksgiving in Queens, New York City, where cases are rising (Picture: Anadolu)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 22: Medical workers load an ambulance outside of Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, which has treated hundreds of COVID-19 patients since March, on September 22, 2020 in New York City. While New York???s infection rate is currently below one percent, the U.S. has reported more than 6.7 million confirmed cases and 200,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19, making it the world leader in both. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Medical workers load an ambulance outside of Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, New York, where schools have been cancelled and cases are on the rise again (Picture: Getty Images)

New York City cancelled school on Wednesday, meaning that more than 1 million students will be taught virtually.

The city has seen a mounting infection rate after being badly hit in the spring and appearing to beat the virus back months ago.

Across the country, governors and mayors are taking similar steps to cope with the out-of-control surge, while outgoing President Donald Trump appears to be more concerned about overturning the result of the election, which he lost to Joe Biden earlier this month.

State leaders are enforcing mask wearing and limiting the size of private and public gatherings ahead of the Thanksgiving celebration.

GLEN BURNIE, MD - NOVEMBER 11: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Firefighters and paramedics with Anne Arundel County Fire Department load a patient into an ambulance while responding to a 911 emergency call on November 11, 2020 in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced yesterday that he will reimpose statewide restrictions for the first time since the start of the pandemic as COVID-19 cases reached record highs in the state for the eighth day in a row. (Photo by Alex Edelman/Getty Images)
Emergency workers load a patient into an ambulance in Glen Burnie, Maryland (Picture: Getty Images)
250,000 dead in the USA
The USA has recorded by far the most deaths in the world (Picture: Our World Data)

Indoor dining has also been banned, gyms closed and other businesses having their opening hours restrictions.

In Texas, thousands of additional medical staff are being sent to overrun hospitals as the number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients statewide accelerates toward 8,000 for the first time since a deadly summer outbreak.

Lara Anton, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said more than 5,400 extra medical personnel have been deployed around Texas by the state alone.

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