While so many Americans couldn’t hug loved ones over the Thanksgiving weekend, it was the image of a doctor clutching a coronavirus victim that said so much about where we are as a country over the holiday weekend. The embrace could also represent a metaphor of what’s to come.
The New York Times reports that almost every region in the United States is now a hot spot:
States that were once spared, like Montana and Wyoming, have reported record deaths and infections, while states that were pummeled in the first wave are straining anew.
On Sunday, California became the first state to report more than 100,000 cases in a week, according to a New York Times database.
The newspaper adds that in New Jersey “hospitalizations have increased 60 percent in the last two weeks and deaths have increased by 78 percent.”
Now there is fear those numbers will get worse thanks to a large increase in travel over the long weekend and due to large gatherings.
White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Deborah Birx says if you spent the holiday with people outside of your household you “have to assume that you were exposed and you became infected and you really need to get tested in the next week.”
One bit of hopeful news, Dr. Birx said she believes she will be able to start briefing the Biden administration on coronavirus today.
