U.S. officials have pleaded with the public to avoid unnecessary travel and exercise caution as the winter holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas approach.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a “strong recommendation” on Thursday that Americans refrain from traveling for the holiday.
With cases and deaths increasing steadily in most states, the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation updated its widely cited model.
It now projects 471,000 coronavirus deaths by March 1, up from less than 440,000 in its previous forecast.
In Wisconsin, which has seen a record number of deaths and cases this week and where the seven-day average positivist rate is 33%, the state’s hospital association has implored lawmakers to address the growing crisis by providing more resources to health care workers and facilities.
“With few tools available right now to curb spread other than increasingly urgent public appeals, our COVID numbers are growing rapidly and predict, quite accurately so far, a health care crisis in Wisconsin that without significant, swift, and unified action will become a catastrophe,” Wisconsin Hospital Association President and CEO Eric Borgerding wrote in a letter to legislators and the governor on Thursday.
