a new tragic record from the united
states more than 2
700 people died with coronavirus on
wednesday alone
that's the highest figure since the
pandemic began
the country has been hit by a surge in
coronavirus infections
more than a hundred thousand americans
are in hospital
and health resources are becoming
increasingly stretched
the top disease control official dr
robert redfield has warned the next
three months
could be the most difficult in america's
public health history
and he said the us is facing a
devastating winter
unless public health advice is heated
you know we looked at the original
spring we lost about a hundred thousand
people
some are a hundred thousand people to
fall a hundred thousand people these are
you know sacred lives that were lost as
a consequence of this pandemic
we're potentially looking at you know
another 150 to 200
000 people before we get into february
so
this is really a significant time
well the mayor of los angeles has issued
an emergency order for the city's
residents to stay at home with immediate
effect
following what health officials
described a terrifying increase
in cases of the disease peter chin hong
is a professor of medicine
and an infectious disease specialist at
the university of california
san francisco good to talk to you peter
again
just tell us how things are there
well things are very grim right now
karen we've
had the fourth straight day of increase
in hospitalizations and of course
once we see our hospitals being filled
up on our icu beds being taken
we're in dire straits how close are you
to that point or have you reached that
point already
well there is some variation across the
state
in some counties for example uh in
northern california there is uh upwards
of ninety percent occupancy of icu beds
in other counties
eighty percent in my own hospital we've
seen
two to three times increase in
hospitalizations due to covet
in the last month alone that is uh
an extraordinary increase in in a
relatively short time peter i mean i
just wonder what
what is going wrong that we have reached
this point and it seems to just be
getting worse there
yeah so there are three main factors i
think that make this wave very different
from the previous waves in the u.s
the first is of course the season in
previous waves uh people were able to
mitigate risk by going outdoors
currently there is no respite so people
are gathering more indoors
the second of course is pandemic fatigue
some have recasted this
as pandemic resentment and the third of
course
is the the fire that's covered all
around the country so that there's no
real you know escape so to speak
california's being
boxed in after having a relatively
unscathed
past and peter it was uh thanksgiving
what just a week ago i mean i suppose
we're yet to see the impact that that
may yet have
exactly and that's why it's very dire
right now because it's a surge
on top of a surge and when you think
about christmas that's a surge on top of
the surge on top of a surge
so in thanksgiving that was a record
travel day for the us for the year with
more than a million people traveling so
if you think about that
that's really going to be uh looking
really bad in about
two weeks right so as we've been hearing
from many officials
the worst could still be yet to come
yes exactly and we're just racing
ourselves right now
you've talked about capacity in icu
reaching well
80 to 90 percent in full in in some
places
just tell us what it is like in
hospitals at the moment what is it like
in your hospital
so i think what it's like i mean it's
very
uh quiet eerily quiet it's austere
uh people a little bit demoralized
because of
just the marathon that the last few
months have been we thought we'd be over
it
by now but it's even getting worse
and i think we're just trying to brace
ourselves for the last mile of the
marathon where
it seems that we're running out of water
right you you say you're
approaching the last mile of the
marathon how much
hope how much energy does it give you
that perhaps you could be seeing a
turning point with the vaccine
soon to arrive yes so i think the
vaccine is the light
at the end of the tunnel but it will
take some time to fully roll out
healthcare workers are going to be
prioritized uh what my hospital is going
to be one of the first
seven hospitals in the state to get it
so we're planning that right now
um so on december 10th the fda will meet
to formally approve it we're a little
bit behind the uk
and hours after it's said that we'll
begin distributing
these vaccines to healthcare workers