US daily deaths from COVID-19 top 4,000 for 1st time

Daily deaths in the United States from COVID-19 exceeded 4,000 for the first time on Thursday.

Johns Hopkins University reported 4,085 people died from the coronavirus and there were 274,703 new cases reported through testing.

In the past week, 19,349 people died in the country and nearly 1.6 million became infected.

Worsening situation

The numbers are another reminder of the worsening situation following travel for holidays and family gatherings, along with more time indoors during the winter months.

Cases and deaths are soaring in California, Arizona, Texas and Florida. Those four states had a combined nearly 1,500 deaths and 80,000 cases on Thursday – figures that were comparable to nationwide totals in October.

Many hospitals in Los Angeles and other hard-hit areas are struggling to keep up and warned they may need to ration care as intensive care beds dwindle. Many nurses already stretched thin are now caring for more patients than typically allowed under state law after the state began issuing waivers that allow hospitals to temporarily bypass a strict nurse-to-patient ratio law.

The biggest fear is that hospitals will be tipped into rationing care in a few weeks when people who ignored social distancing rules to gather with friends and relatives for Christmas and New Year’s Eve start showing up for medical care.

Record cases in Nevada

On Thursday, Nevada reported a record number 3,402 new coronavirus cases over the preceding day, according to data, raising concerns that a predicted “surge on top of a surge” could be developing.

The one-day boom in new cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, reported on the Department of Health and Human Services’ coronavirus website, came a day after the state set a new record for daily deaths with 60.

Increased deaths and the potential for more deaths has prompted the use of refrigerated units are several mortuary facilities in the Las Vegas Valley.

The Clark County coroner’s office has loaned at least six refrigerated units to four funeral homes — a move designed to increase capacity and decrease delays. Two more units that could be deployed “at any time” are on reserve, according to the coroner’s office.

Allegiant Stadium could be used as a COVID-19 vaccination site once mass inoculations in Southern Nevada begin.

“It is a potential resource we can utilize if we need to, but nothing is definite,” Clark County spokesman Erik Pappa said.

A person with direct knowledge of the situation said the Las Vegas Raiders have been in discussions with officials about possibly using the 65,000-seat stadium for larger-scale rollout of vaccines.

Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter. The Associated Press contributed to this report.