U.S. CORONAVIRUS CASES

Cases exceed 13 million

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, around 103,000 cases and 1,100 deaths were reported on Thanksgiving compared to 187,00 cases and 1,962 deaths the previous Thursday. It is likely that the number reported on Friday, November 27th are higher than they should be because data from Thanksgiving Day was released the next day. These issues with data may persist; in Vermont, officials stated they would not report on Thursday or Friday. Access to testing likely decreased as well during last week, meaning many cases went uncounted. In states such as Louisiana and Wisconsin, testing sites were closed during the week of Thanksgiving, or at least part of the week,

The most recent surge of coronavirus cases began picking up across the country in mid-October. In just over two weeks in October, the United States went from 8 million cases to 9 million cases, and then from 9 million to 10 million in 10 days, 10 million to 11 million in less than a week, and from 11 million to 12 million in only five days. After another seven days - by the Friday after Thanksgiving - cases had reached 13 million in the United States.

Last Friday, November 27th, the number of coronavirus infections in the U.S. exceeded 13 million. Americans had been warned to stay home on Thanksgiving and not travel to visit family members, and many people listened to this guidance. However, although travel was significantly less than previous years, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reported that over half a million people flew last Thursday (Thanksgiving) alone. Another four million people had traveled since the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

The CDC’s (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) list of higher risk activities for spreading the virus included shopping in crowded stores before, on, or after Thanksgiving Day. This was intended to encourage people to stay home or make purchases online on Black Friday instead of going out. It was important to attempt to limit Black Friday crowds because the U.S. had one of the world’s highest number of cases per capita in the last week. For more than two weeks, the U.S. has set records every day for the number of people in the hospital. The country saw a decrease in new cases on Thanksgiving, but unfortunately it was non genuine progress as many states did not report new data on Thanksgiving Day.

Wolfe, Lauren, et al. “Covid-19 Live Updates: U.S. Crosses 13 Million Cases, Adding to Fears Over Thanksgiving Travel.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 Nov. 2020, www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/27/world/covid-19-coronavirus.