Global COVID-19 total surges past 38 million
Overnight the global pandemic total topped 38 million, amid rising cases in the United States in the weeks leading up to the holiday gathering season and further rises in Europe, where countries scrambled to dial up restrictions to curb second-wave activity, according to a report from University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, which publishes CIDRAP News.
New cases are rising in 36 states, including a large swath of the Midwest and Northeast, the New York Times said in its latest analysis. Idaho and Wisconsin yesterday set record daily highs, and the seven-day average for new cases topped 50,000 for the first time in nearly two months, according to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins data.
Hospitalizations, which typically lag rising cases, are now climbing, reaching their highest level since September 2, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cites data from the COVID Tracking Project. As of Monday, there were 35,056 people hospitalized for COVID-19 across the country.
In a conference call with governors yesterday, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield, MD, said that small household gatherings are driving the surge in new cases, CNN reported. The worrying development comes amid a predicted increase with the onset of cooler weather and more frequent indoor activity and about six weeks ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
The current totals in the U.S. are at 7,917,297 cases, 216,904 of them fatal, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard.
The global total today climbed to 38,586,918 cases, and 1,093,318 people have died from their infections, according to the Johns Hopkins online tracker.
