43 staffers at a California hospital tested positive for Covid-19. An air-powered costume may be to blame
Hospitals around the United States are racing to keep up with surges of Covid-19 patients at numbers they have not seen at any other time in the pandemic.
And at one California hospital, an outbreak possibly connected to an air-powered costume on Christmas has sickened nearly four dozen employees.
Overall, at least 123,000 people nationwide were in the hospital with coronavirus on Sunday, marking more than a month that the number of hospitalizations has exceeded 100,000, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
Cases have skyrocketed after the Thanksgiving holiday, and impacts from Christmas and New Year’s celebrations are still unfolding. As of Sunday, more than 20.4 million people have been infected with the virus in the US and at least 350,000 people have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Even if you don’t have coronavirus, record-high Covid-19 hospitalizations could have a devastating impact on you.
“If you are in a car accident, you’re going to want us to save your life,” said Dr. Brad Spellberg, chief medical officer at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center.
“If you have a heart attack or a stroke, you’re going to want to an ICU bed with trained ICU nurses and physicians who are not caring for 20 other patients at the same time.”
Some hospitals across the US started running out of health care workers months ago. But holiday gatherings are fueling new waves of Covid-19, hospitalizations.
US surgeon general says Covid-19 projections are scary, but urges Americans to keep following precautions
US Surgeon General Jerome Adams speaks with CNN on Sunday, January 3. CNN
US Surgeon General Jerome Adams called on the American people to continue to take Covid-19 precautions as cases surge following the Thanksgiving holiday, and the impacts of travel over the Christmas holiday continue to unfold. I want people to know the projections are pretty scary, but they are projections. What we do now matters. If you gathered over the holidays outside of your household without a mask, there are still measures you can take right now, Adams told CNN s Jake Tapper.
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