Increased hospitalizations are straining local response efforts, as the United States passed the nine million COVID-19-case mark as reported by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).
The United States reported a record high of over 100,000 cases Friday, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard. The US total today climbed to 9,210,852 cases and 231,003 deaths. Global cases are at 46,639, 757 and 1,202,013 deaths.
In El Paso County, Texas, where a rise in cases is stretching hospitals, a county judge announced the closure of all non-essential businesses for two weeks, the Texas Tribune reported, but the state's attorney general is challenging the order.
In other local developments, Los Angeles County yesterday reported its biggest one-day increase (1,745) since the middle of August, and a further rise could hamper efforts to reopen schools and businesses, the Los Angeles Times reported.
And New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio said that the city's seven-day average for test positivity rates rose to 1.92 percent, the highest since the middle of June, the Wall Street Journal reported. He attributed the rise to hot-spot neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens.
NPR's review of data shows that hospital use, which include numbers of patients on ventilators and intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy, has risen 14 percent to 16 percent over the past month, and about 24 percent of US hospitals are at more than 80 percent ICU capacity.
