Coronavirus US/Europe

Stay home for the holidays, US health officials urge

Millions are on the move for Thanksgiving, even as rising cases strain medical resources

Travellers at a security checkpoint at an airport in Denver, Colorado, on Tuesday, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday long weekend, which starts today. Although fewer in number than is typical, millions of Americans have flocked to airports and highwa
Travellers at a security checkpoint at an airport in Denver, Colorado, on Tuesday, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday long weekend, which starts today. Although fewer in number than is typical, millions of Americans have flocked to airports and highways in recent days, leading to the busiest travel period in the United States since the early days of the pandemic in March. PHOTO: REUTERS

WASHINGTON • Officials pleaded with Americans on Tuesday to stay at home and redouble efforts to curtail the coronavirus pandemic, defending unpopular public health measures as record hospitalisations pushed medical professionals to the brink.

"We are on fire with Covid," Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on CNN, speaking in support of restrictions imposed last week that included new constraints on retail activity and school closures. "We're just trying to do the right thing."

The number of patients being treated for coronavirus infections in United States hospitals surpassed 86,000 on Tuesday, an all-time high, while 30 of the 50 states reported a record number of Covid-19-related hospitalisations this month.

The soaring caseload has taxed already exhausted healthcare providers and further strained medical resources, as 171,000 Americans test positive and another 1,500 or more perish from Covid-19 every day, on average.

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams urged the public to grasp "the severity of the moment" and remain diligent in wearing face coverings, avoiding crowds and practising good hand hygiene until newly developed therapeutic treatments and vaccines can be made widely available in the months ahead.

"We just need you, the American people, to hold on a little bit longer," Dr Adams, a White House coronavirus task force member, told Fox News in an interview.

He joined a chorus of health authorities calling for people to reconsider any plans to travel or to congregate in large groups beyond their immediate households over the Thanksgiving holiday long weekend, which starts today.

California's top health official, Dr Mark Ghaly, in his weekly public Covid-19 briefing on Tuesday, went as far as to offer up "Covid chat" talking points for politely but firmly declining invitations to family gatherings that might be unsafe.

"Saying 'no' to people you love is never easy... but knowing how and when to say 'no' is the first step to protecting your health and the health of the people you care about," Dr Ghaly wrote.

Government data and projections from the American Automobile Association show such pleas are being widely disregarded.

Although fewer in number than is typical, millions of Americans have flocked to airports and highways in recent days, leading to the busiest US travel period since the early days of the pandemic in March.

One travel complication may soon be relaxed, as the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention considers shortening its recommended 14-day quarantine after potential exposure to the virus for individuals who test negative during their isolation.

The health authorities also said this week that they expect the first vaccines to win US regulatory approval for distribution next month. The vaccines will begin to be administered to front-line healthcare workers and other high-priority individuals by the middle of next month.

However, the shots are unlikely to become widely available to the public on demand before April or May, experts have said.

In the meantime, doctors will soon have additional medical treatments for Covid-19 at their disposal.

A newly authorised antibody combination therapy from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals was due to begin US government distribution on Tuesday.

After an initial wave of infections centred on and around major US cities during spring, the Covid-19 pandemic now has engulfed rural and small-town America.

Infection rates in a dozen Midwestern states have more than doubled those of any other region, according to the Covid Tracking Project, soaring 20 times higher from mid-June to mid-November.

"Stay home, stay protected and keep yourself and others well," the Mississippi State Department of Health said in a tweet on Tuesday.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 26, 2020, with the headline Stay home for the holidays, US health officials urge. Subscribe