Posted November 20, 2020 | by KimS | in Coronavirus, DemDaily, Trump Administration

DemDaily: The COVID Count

November 20, 2020

While it pains us to provide an update on the status of the coronavirus in the United States, the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday necessitates a reminder of the dangers and the toll the deadly pandemic continues to take on our country, colleagues, neighbors and family.

When Donald Trump finally proclaimed a national emergency on March 13th, there were 2,030 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States and 45 deaths.

Today, eight months later, that number rests at over 12 million cases and close to 260,000 fatalities, and the United States is still without a unified coordinated response or national coronavirus policy.

Red State/Blue State: That leaves the public policy and health decisions to each state's Governor in what has become an incredibly politicized process, amid President Trump's unwavering pressure on Republican lawmakers to lift safety restrictions.

While many have had to acquiesce to shutting down due to pandemic exposions in their states, there are still 11 Governors - all Republicans - that have yet to issue statewide mask mandates.

The Hardest Hit States: Texas, California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Georgia and Wisconsin.

The Biggest Spikes: Forty-nine states and territories have seen a greater than 25% increase in COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks, compared to the two weeks before. Vermont, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington saw a 219% to 110% increase over the last two weeks.

Hope: Pfizer announced today it is asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow for emergency authorization and use of its COVID-19 vaccine. If granted, frontline workers, who will be the first to receive the vaccine, may get it as soon as December.

Worldwide, there have been 57,768,244 reported cases and 1,374,788 deaths.

Numbers are from Worldometer, which manually analyzes, validates, and aggregates data from COVID sources, including Johns Hopkins CSSE and other institutes. Figures 11/19/20.