The virus’ invisibility means people are able to minimize its impact because they aren’t seeing the negative aspects clear in front of them, she says. “We are seeing a strange situation where up to 60% of all transmission of this virus is coming from people with no outward symptoms of any kind,” she says. While the coronavirus is extremely contagious and can cause lasting health impacts, a majority of infected people don’t show outward symptoms, she says. Putting aside the politicization of masks, Garrett says two key factors played a role in exacerbating the pandemic. on a path “heading into a winter of true hell.” The lack of resources and the differing individual mandates of each state have set the U.S. “The sort of cooperative mechanisms that many governors set up that helped them get through the last two surges won't make any difference because nobody can share,” she says. Trump let states handle the pandemic their own way, Garrett says, and now, that scenario is coming to fruition in the worst way. In addition, states are seeing increased demand for morgue capacity, funeral parlor operators and coroners, she says. But now every state needs extra resources - including masks, ventilators, drugs, nurses, doctors and personal protective equipment.

The current surge is different from past spikes, she says, because at the start of the pandemic in March, states such as New York were able to recruit out-of-state health care workers for additional help. In at least 43 states, she says these increases are at or approaching overwhelming states’ immediate hospitalization capacities. is in a period of “exponential growth” of the coronavirus.Īll 50 states are facing increases of positive coronavirus cases at the same time, she says. The Pulitzer Prize-winning science author and former fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations says the U.S. Laurie Garrett has been sounding the alarm since the first days of the pandemic. Michael Osterholm is calling the situation 'a COVID hell.' This, as President Trump all but ignores the crisis, and the head of the coronavirus task force, Vice President Mike Pence, is reportedly focused on helping the president contest the election. A shelter-in-place order in El Paso has been extended until next month.Īs cases soar, epidemiologist Dr. It's the snapshot that no one wanted to see, but many expected: Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee hospitals are nearing capacity.Īnd in El Paso, Texas, mobile morgues are being set up outside treatment centers, with more than 150 bodies being held there as of Tuesday afternoon. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) This article is more than 1 year old. A nurse practitioner administers COVID-19 tests in a parking lot in Brockton, Massachusetts.

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