In worst coronavirus surge yet, task force urges return to strict social distancing

Introduction

The country’s worst coronavirus surge is threatening hospitals’ ability to treat patients, but Americans and states still aren’t acting like it, the White House Coronavirus Task Force warned in its most recent weekly report.

The Trump administration keeps the reports largely secret, sharing them with governors but not with the public. But the task force is still trying to paint for Americans the dire picture of the country’s cases and hospitalizations.

“This current fall to winter surge continues to spread to every corner of the US,” the task force wrote to several states. “This surge is the most rapid increase in cases; the widest spread of intense transmission, with more than 2,000 counties in COVID red zones; and the longest duration of rapid increase, now entering its 8th week, that we have experienced.”

And states are still not doing enough, the task force said. 

“Despite the severity of this surge and the threat to hospital systems, many state and local governments are not implementing the same mitigation policies that stemmed the tide of the summer surge,” the task force wrote. “Mitigation efforts must increase … including masking, physical distancing, hand hygiene, no indoor gatherings outside of immediate households, and aggressive testing.”

Every state but Hawaii is now in the White House’s red zone for new coronavirus cases, meaning they had more than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents in the past week. Thirty-four states are in the red zone for test positivity, with more than 10 percent of tests coming back positive. Forty-four states and the District of Columbia were in the red zone for deaths, with more than two per 100,000 residents in the past week. 

The task force also added a new metric to this week’s reports: 37 states are in the red zone for new hospital admissions. Each had more than 15 new hospital admissions per 100 beds. Maryland, Arkansas and Oklahoma led the nation in new admissions per beds.

“The population and healthcare system must do everything possible to limit further holiday-related disease surges and prevent overrunning hospital capacity and avoidable deaths,” the task force told Maryland. 

The White House experts recommended more masking, more physical distancing and more testing of asymptomatic people, warning that vaccines won’t arrive soon enough to help those killed in the current outbreaks.

“The current vaccine implementation will not substantially reduce viral spread, hospitalizations, or fatalities until the 100 million Americans with comorbidities can be fully immunized, which will take until the late spring,” it wrote. “Behavioral change and aggressive mitigation policies are the only widespread prevention tools that we have to address this winter surge.”

Task force officials are eyeing Christmas: “Begin warning about any gathering during December holidays,” it told Alabama in bold type.

The White House has said it does not make the reports public because it wants states to lead the response to the pandemic. The Center for Public Integrity is collecting and publishing them.

The states in the red zone for cases in this week’s report (meaning they had more than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents in the week prior):

1. Minnesota
2. Rhode Island
3. South Dakota
4. Wyoming
5. Indiana
6. Nebraska
7. New Mexico
8. Montana
9. North Dakota
10. Alaska
11. Utah
12. Kansas
13. Wisconsin
14. Idaho
15. Colorado
16. Oklahoma
17. Nevada
18. Tennessee
19. Illinois
20. Iowa
21. Michigan
22. Kentucky
23. Ohio
24. Arizona
25. Arkansas
26. Mississippi
27. Delaware
28. Pennsylvania
29. Connecticut
30. Massachusetts
31. West Virginia
32. Missouri
33. Louisiana
34. Alabama
35. New Jersey
36. New Hampshire
37. Texas
38. California
39. South Carolina
40. New York
41. Florida
42. Maryland
43. North Carolina
44. Oregon
45. District of Columbia
46. Washington
47. Georgia
48. Virginia
49. Vermont
50. Maine

The states in the red zone for test positivity in this week’s report (meaning more than 10 percent of tests in the state were positive in the week prior):

1. Idaho
2. Nevada
3. Oklahoma
4. Nebraska
5. Kansas
6. South Dakota
7. Montana
8. Utah
9. Missouri
10. Indiana
11. Iowa
12. Alabama
13. Mississippi
14. Arizona
15. Ohio
16. New Mexico
17. Kentucky
18. Michigan
19. Pennsylvania
20. Wyoming
21. Illinois
22. Texas
23. Minnesota
24. South Carolina
25. Georgia
26. Wisconsin
27. Colorado
28. New Hampshire
29. Connecticut
30. New Jersey
31. Louisiana
32. Arkansas
33. Florida
34. North Carolina

The states in the red zone for deaths (meaning they had more than two new deaths per 100,000 residents in the week prior): 

1. South Dakota
2. North Dakota
3. Nebraska
4. New Mexico
5. Kansas
6. Iowa
7. Indiana
8. Michigan
9. Illinois
10. Wyoming
11. Pennsylvania
12. Idaho
13. Montana
14. Missouri
15. Minnesota
16. Rhode Island
17. Wisconsin
18. Colorado
19. Nevada
20. Arkansas
21. Alabama
22. Connecticut
23. Tennessee
24. Mississippi
25. West Virginia
26. Ohio
27. Arizona
28. Massachusetts
29. Oklahoma
30. Texas
31. Maryland
32. Kentucky
33. New Jersey
34. Louisiana
35. Florida
36. Washington
37. Oregon
38. Alaska
39. New Hampshire
40. Maine
41. South Carolina
42. North Carolina
43. New York
44. Utah 
45. District of Columbia

The states in the red zone for COVID-19 hospital admissions (meaning they had more than 15 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100 beds in the week prior):

1. Maryland 
2. Arkansas
3. Oklahoma
4. Kentucky
5. Wisconsin
6. Pennsylvania
7. Ohio
8. Nevada
9. District of Columbia
10. New Mexico
11. Illinois
12. Colorado
13. Indiana
14. Missouri
15. Arizona
16. Wyoming
17. Michigan
18. Georgia
19. Kansas
20. New Jersey
21. Delaware
22. Minnesota
23. Montana
24. North Dakota
25. Nebraska
26. South Dakota
27. California
28. Connecticut
29. Texas
30. Alabama
31. Oregon
32. Tennessee
33. North Carolina
34. Virginia
35. West Virginia
36. Idaho
37. South Carolina