California's governor says the state is at a "tipping point" in the COVID-19 pandemic that will soon overwhelm hospitals, as political leaders nationwide turn to increasingly aggressive measures to hold back the latest surge.
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Governor Gavin Newsom says he might clamp new stay-at-home orders on California's roughly 40 million residents in the face of infections and hospitalisations that are still rising weeks before emergency vaccines are predicted for release.
"We can't sustain the record-high cases we're seeing," Newsom tweeted on Monday. "Current projections show CA will run out of current ICU beds before Christmas Eve."
Last week he ordered a 10pm-5am curfew barring social gatherings and other non-essential activities across most of the state .
More than 4.2 million new COVID-19 infections and 36,000 COVID-19 related deaths were reported across the United States in November, according to a Reuters tally. Hospitalisations are at a pandemic high and deaths the most in six months.
Nearly 93,000 Americans are hospitalised with COVID-19, up 11 per cent from last week and double the number reported a month ago, according to a Reuters analysis.
Americans who have endured eight months of restrictions, lockdown and business closures are pinning their hopes on vaccines by drug companies Pfizer and Moderna that are awaiting US government approval for emergency use.
US Health Secretary Alex Azar said Pfizer's medication could be authorised and shipped within days of a December 10 meeting of outside advisers to the Food and Drug Administration.
Moderna's vaccine could follow a week later, Azar said, after the company announced on Monday it would apply for emergency authorization in the US and Europe.
"So we could be seeing both of these vaccines out and getting into people's arms before Christmas," Azar told CBS.
Meanwhile, Dr Scott Atlas resigned as science adviser to President Donald Trump after a controversial four months during which he clashed repeatedly with other members of the coronavirus task force.
The Stanford University neuroradiologist, who has no formal experience in public health or infectious diseases, was sharply criticised by public health experts, including Anthony Fauci, the leading US infectious disease expert, for providing Trump with misleading or incorrect information on the pandemic.
Australian Associated Press