Currents News Staff
A dramatic, dire assessment from the White House Coronavirus Task Force to states was written in a weekly report:
“We are in a very dangerous place due to the current, extremely high COVID baseline and limited hospital capacity; a further post-Thanksgiving surge will compromise COVID patient care, as well as medical care overall.”
Doctors nationwide are bracing for the worst.
“Every doctor’s worst fear is that patients come to us and we can’t give them the best care,” said Jason Mitchell, Chief Medical Officer at Presbyterian Healthcare Services, “we can’t give them everything we need to take care of them.”
Urgency, also felt on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers resume talks about getting Americans some sort of financial relief soon.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he’s working on a bill that would include more small business funding, and an extension of the federal unemployment benefits set to expire at the end of the year.
“In the last several days, Democratic leaders have shown a new willingness to engage,” said McConnell.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that President Trump would sign McConnell’s bill.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has laid out priority groups – medical workers and long-term care facility residents – for the first wave of vaccines, expected to reach states before christmas.
“I think states are getting ready,” said Eric Toner, Senior Scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. ”They’ve been working on their plans now for a couple months.”
On Dec.2, the United Kingdom approved Pfizer Biontech’s vaccine, the first western country to sign off on a COVID-19 vaccine.