(NEW YORK) — Here are today’s In Crisis headlines:
COVID-19 numbers
Here’s the latest data on COVID-19 coronavirus infections and deaths.
Latest reported numbers globally per Johns Hopkins University
Global diagnosed cases: 63,384,168
Global deaths: 1,470,769. The United States has the most deaths of any single country, with 268,103.
Number of countries/regions: at least 191
Total patients recovered globally: 40,637,940
Latest reported numbers in the United States per Johns Hopkins University
There are at least 13,546,787 reported cases in 50 states + the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. This is more than in any other country.
U.S. deaths: at least 268,103. New York State has the greatest number of reported deaths in the U.S., with 34,605.
U.S. total patients recovered: 5,146,319
U.S. total people tested: 192,769,788
The greatest number of reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is in Texas, with 1,239,332 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 29 million. This ranks fourth in the world after Maharashtra, India, which has 1,823,896 reported cases; England, which has 1,401,792 reported cases; and Sao Paulo, Brazil, which has 1,241,653 reported cases.
CDC advisory committee meets today to decide vaccine recipient priority
An advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is scheduled to meet today to determine who will receive a COVID-19 vaccine first. Vaccine frontrunners Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have both requested Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration that, if granted, would allow their vaccines to be immediately distributed and administered to people the most at risk of coronavirus infection. Priorities are expected to include front line healthcare workers, first responders, and the elderly. The FDA is scheduled to meet this month on December 10 and December 17 to consider both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s EUA requests, respectively, meaning vaccinations could begin before year’s end. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in separate interviews Monday that he expects vaccinations “getting into people’s arms before Christmas.”
Study finds COVID-19 in US earlier than initially believed
A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, or COVID-19, had infected people in the U.S. at least a month earlier than initially believed. The study examined 7,389 Red Cross blood donations collected between December 13, 2019 and January 17, 2020 and later sent to the CDC for testing to see if any included antibodies to the novel coronavirus. Antibodies were present in 106 of the donations, including 39 samples from California, Oregon and Washington state collected between December 13 and December 16. Researchers also found 67 blood donations with antibodies in Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin or Iowa, and Connecticut or Rhode Island, all collected between December 30, 2019 and January 17, 2020. The findings suggest COVID-19 was infecting people on the U.S. West Coast as early as mid-December 2019, and elsewhere prior to the first officially reported U.S. case, which was in Washington state on January 20, 2020. The first officially reported case of the virus anywhere was in Wuhan, China on December 31, 2019.
US sees record COVID-19 hospitalizations for nineteenth day in November
The U.S. on Monday reported there were 96,039 people hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the Covid Tracking Project, marking the 19th day of record single-day numbers in November. A Department of Health and Human Services memo, obtained by ABC News, shows there were 1,119,684 new coronavirus cases confirmed during the period from November 24 through November 30, marking a 6.4% decrease from the previous seven-day period. However, experts warn that all numbers could be higher than reported, due to a Thanksgiving holiday lag in reporting.
The World Health Organization announced Monday that that the number of new COVID-19 cases worldwide dropped last week for the first time since September. However, it’s believed the drop was mostly due to a decrease in cases in Europe, which in turn was driven by severe lockdowns in many countries there. The WHO reported that cases and deaths increased in other parts of the world.
As of Tuesday morning, there were at least 13,546,787 reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and 268,103 reported deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. These numbers remain the highest in the world. The most recent forecast by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there will be from 294,000 to 321,000 COVID-19 fatalities in the U.S. by the week ending December 19.
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