US coronavirus cases surge amid election battle

Cases and hospitalizations are setting records all around country just as holidays and winter approach, demonstrating challenge that eir President Donald Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden will face in coming months.

Daily new confirmed coronavirus cases in U.S. have surged 45% over past two weeks, to a record 7-day average of 86,352, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Deaths are also on rise, up 15 per cent to an average of 846 deaths every day.

total U.S. death toll is alrey more than 232,000, and totally confirmed U.S. cases have surpassed 9 million. Those are highest totals in world, and new infections are increasing in nearly every state.

Public health experts fear potentially dire consequences, at least in short term.

"Especially concerning is fact that re are very few hospital beds for patients left in some parts of country where y are actually having to build new emergency hospitals or airlift patients to or parts of country. That's a sign that health care system is buckling under very severe Covid epidemic that that area is facing. And it's a sign that unless we do something to stop it, we could be overwhelming our ability to care for patients," said Dr. Josh Sharfstein, professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Polls showed public health crisis and economy were top concerns for many Americans. y are competing issues that Trump and Biden view through drastically different lenses.

Trump has ignored vice of his top health visors, who have issued increasingly urgent warnings in recent days about need for preventive measures, inste of holding rallies where face coverings were rare and falsely suggesting that pandemic is waning.

By contrast, Biden has rarely been seen in public without a mask and me public health a key issue. Wher his voice will carry much influence if Trump is declared winner is uncertain.

Federal health officials have said y believe a vaccine could get emergency use authorization before end of year. first limited supplies of doses would n be immediately distributed to most vulnerable populations, which is likely to include frontline health care workers. Doses would n grually become more widely available.

"If you go indoors by yourself or you are in a socially distanced atmosphere wearing a mask, that's pretty safe. But if you are going indoors and you're crowded with a bunch of people eating and drinking in a small space, that is like rolling out red carpet for virus, you can expect that virus is going to spre and maybe to a lot of people all at same time," according to Sharfstein.

On treatment front, makers of two experimental antibody drugs have asked Food and Drug ministration to allow emergency use of m for people with mild to moderate COVID-19, and Trump, who received one when he was sickened last month, has said he wanted m available right away.

So far, FDA has granted full approval to only one drug — antiviral remdesivir — for hospitalized patients. Dexamethasone or similar steroids are recommended for certain severely ill patients under federal treatment guidelines.

government continues to sponsor many studies testing or treatments alone and in combination with remdesivir.

But development of treatments could be affected if Trump makes good on threats to fire Dr Anthony Fauci, government's top infectious disease doctor, or or top health officials Trump has clashed with.

Most Americans support mandating mask-wearing in public and think preventing virus from spreing is a higher priority than protecting economy, according to AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of over 133,000 voters and nonvoters conducted for Associated Press by NORC at University of Chicago.

" incoming president right now is in transition period is going to have to deal with an enormous rise in number of cases, number of hospitalizations and number of deaths. And I think it's going to be first getting people to recognize severity of situation and having people realize that we can come toger and take some steps that will save a lot of lives," Sharfstein said.