Coronavirus Cases Are Surging Past The Summer Peak — And Not Just In The U.S.
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 27 October 2020
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
The situation is similar in Europe, which just logged more new cases than any week so far.
Cases are rising in North Dakota faster than any other state. Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney recently imposed a mask mandate there.
NPR's Will Stone reports on the growing outbreak in the Midwest, where some hospitals may not be able to handle an influx of COVID-19 patients.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | At Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo, they've had to cut the size of the pediatric ward in half. |
| 0:07.0 | I am exceedingly anxious right now. Our MICU has been full of COVID patients for about last two weeks. We do not have a bed despair. |
| 0:16.0 | Dr. Brian Weiss, chief medical officer with Northwest Texas Hospital, said in a public briefing recently. They were running out of space for adult patients. |
| 0:25.0 | But we're having to add more and more units to take care of these patients who are infected with COVID. |
| 0:30.0 | More people in the hospital, more with COVID-19, and flu season is just getting started. It's the story in almost every state now. |
| 0:39.0 | This is a difficult race when you can't actually see the endpoint. And I'm sorry that that's the message I have for you. |
| 0:45.0 | Nevertheless, I'm asking you to fight the fatigue. |
| 0:48.0 | Illinois Public Health Director, Dr. Angazi Azique. |
| 0:52.0 | I'm sorry. |
| 0:54.0 | At a tough time keeping it together in a briefing this past week. |
| 0:57.0 | We have had 364, 33, 364,33 cases since the start of this pandemic. |
| 1:05.0 | And in Utah, public health officials might be weeks away from activating crisis standards of care, which basically means rationing ICU beds. |
| 1:15.0 | This isn't sustainable and we're exhausted. |
| 1:18.0 | Katrina Emory and ICU nurse at the University of Utah Hospital spoke at a briefing on Friday. |
| 1:24.0 | She's working 50 hours a week. |
| 1:27.0 | I've watched as my patient was finally able to hug their spouse after 90 days. |
| 1:32.0 | Can you imagine being in a hospital for 90 days without the touch or hug of your family? |
| 1:39.0 | In my years as an ICU nurse, I have never seen our units so busy. |
| 1:44.0 | Consider this. In terms of raw numbers, the US has surpassed the daily peaks we saw in the summer. |
| 1:51.0 | And other countries are struggling to contain the spread too. |
| 1:55.0 | From NPR, I'm Oddie Cornish. It's Tuesday, October 27th. |
| 2:01.0 | This message comes from NPR Sponsors Splunk, the data to everything platform, |
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