US Coronavirus situation expected to be 'nightmarish' by January

While December may have been considered as a deadly month, if not the deadliest in the US in 2020, experts are of the opinion that January will be "nightmarish."

The number of deaths from the months of November to December in the US has almost doubled and health experts do not like the trend they see. They are expecting that January will be worse.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's leading infectious disease expert noted during the State of the Union of CNN that the country might see a post-seasonal surge. He was referring to the period after Christmas and New Year. He pointed out super spreader activities like private gatherings that could take place during this period despite the warnings given by health experts.

Fauci told Dana Bash of CNN that the potential rise in cases is a "surge upon a surge." He referred to the cases from late fall and up to early winter. "Troubling," was how Fauci described the spike of cases that could be seen during this period.

The Transportation Security Administration revealed that it screened more than 1,100,000 people at US airports on Saturday. The numbers denote that people were not staying home despite the warnings that were issued by health officials. Over the past week, air travel has spiked and the number hit almost or more than a million for six consecutive days.

The Covid Tracking Project noted that hospitalisations due to COVID-19 have reached record levels. Sunday was notably the highest number of hospitalisations where around 118,720 patients were recorded. It was also the 26th consecutive day that the country remained above the 100,000 mark of hospitalisations.

Fauci noted that having 200,000 new cases in a day with approximately 2,000 deaths per day, and with more than 120,000 hospitalizations, is already a critical point. He added that it can get worse.

In the U.S., more than 341,000 people have already died, with more than 19,000,000 total cases. It is projected that another 193,000 could die over the next few months. Dr Peter Hotez, Baylor College of Medicine infectious disease specialist said that "the projections are just nightmarish."

He noted though, that people could still save their loved ones' lives by wearing masks and continued practice of social distancing.

Coronavirus