First, coronavirus infections increased. Then, hospitalizations. Now, deaths are on the rise.

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Sat, 2020-10-31 09:31 — mike kraft

First, coronavirus infections increased. Then, hospitalizations. Now, deaths are on the rise. On some recent days, the number of deaths nationally has exceeded 1,000. Joel Achenbach, Brittany Shammas, Jacqueline Dupree Washington Post

Coronavirus infections soared this week to record levels, hospitalizations are up in almost every state, and now — predictably, but slowly — deaths are rising, too.

The nation passed another milestone Friday with 9 million confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic, including more than 98,000 new cases, a daily record. More than 1,000 deaths in the United States from the novel coronavirus were reported each day Wednesday and Thursday, according to health data analyzed by The Washington Post, continuing an upward trend that began two weeks ago.

All signs indicate that this isn’t a blip but rather a reflection of a massive surge in infections that, without a dramatic effort to reverse the trend, will drive up the death toll for weeks to come. At least 229,000 people in the United States have died of covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.

... mortality rates have improved, but the accelerating spread of the virus is driving up the absolute numbers of deaths.

Doctors have reported better outcomes thanks to improved techniques for treating patients and the use of the steroid dexamethasone and the antiviral remdesivir. In a widely reported study, researchers at NYU Langone Health found that the death rate among more than 5,000 patients in the system’s three hospitals dropped from 25.6 percent in March to 7.6 percent in August.

Still, this remains a potentially deadly disease, and a large proportion of the population is still vulnerable to infection. With the number of infections hitting daily records, there is reason to expect that deaths will keeping rising until the spread of the virus is contained. ...

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