Hospitals are stretched thin as COVID cases surge in Connecticut and across the country

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    HARTFORD, Conn. (WFSB) — The country is reaching a critical point in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 282,000 people have died from the virus in the United States and hospitals all over the country are being stretched thin.

This comes as more members in all branches of government report positive test results.

Rob Blanchard, Gov. Ned Lamont’s deputy director of communications, took to Twitter over the weekend to say that he tested positive for COVID-19. He is self-isolating.

The governor’s office said Blanchard was not in close contact with Lamont, so the governor won’t need to quarantine.

In the meantime, COVID cases in the U.S. have now surpassed 14.7 million.

In Connecticut, the positivity rate was at 5.52 percent and 35 more people died, according to the most recent numbers from the state.

Hospitalizations were down by 41.

Elsewhere, 25 states reported record hospitalizations.

“So as bad as things are right now, they’re going to get a lot worse,” warned Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. “we’re going to see a peak in a number of deaths and hospitalizations probably at some point in the middle of January.”

California is trying to get a grip on the virus as 30,000 people tested positive on Sunday.

A stay-at-home order, affecting about 33-million residents, began Sunday night.

Doctors said the country is now seeing the effects of the Thanksgiving surge health officials were concerned about.

“The trend lines we’re seeing now are really disastrous, they’re just heading straight up in terms of the number of cases, the number of hospitalizations, so it really is time for us to pull back on the activity and see if we can turn this thing around,” said Dr. Robert Wachter, chairman, Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco.

Some relief is in sight.

The FDA may authorize the first vaccines in the next two weeks.

An FDA advisory committee is meeting on Thursday to discuss the Pfizer vaccine. It will look at Moderna’s vaccine next week.

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