Coronavirus surges across midwest as Trump attacks health professionals

Coronavirus surges across midwest as Trump attacks health professionals Covid-19 misinformation at heart of president’s re-election pitch as Idaho registers 10% increase in cases in last week Jessica Glenza the Guardian

America set a world record for new daily cases over the weekend as Covid-19 cases spread across the midwest and hospitalizations increased.

Over the weekend Trump hinted he might fire Anthony Fauci, the US’s foremost infectious diseases expert, if re-elected. “Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election. I appreciate the advice. I appreciate it,” said Trump after the Florida crowd chanted: “Fire Fauci.”

Trump also falsely claimed: “Our doctors get more money if someone dies from Covid. You know that, right?”

Dr Jim Souza, chief medical officer for St Luke’s, a hospital system with several locations in Idaho, responded: “If you’ve never seen a patient intubated on mechanical ventilation, connected to a dialysis machine, in a prone position, sedated and paralyzed – if you’ve never been part of that care – it’s heavy physical labor, it’s psychologically heavy work.

“It is just not OK to be calling into question the professional ethics of the very people who are on the frontlines fighting this fire,” said Souza.

Idaho has seen a 10% increase in cases in the last week. It is among a handful of the worst-hit states per capita in the nation, including neighboring Montana and Wyoming. North and South Dakota continue to lead the nation in new Covid-19 cases per capita. More than 231,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the US, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

While the outbreak is worse in the west, it is not confined to that region. Infection and hospitalization rates have trended upward across the United States in the last two-week period, according to Covid Exit Strategy. ...

More and more facilities are requesting [personal protective equipment],” said Dr Shikha Gupta, executive director of Get Us PPE, a non-profit which supplies healthcare facilities with PPE, when they cannot find equipment through suppliers. “We are deeply unprepared for what that’s going to bring as hospitals reach capacity across the US with surging caseloads.”

Nursing homes, where less than 1% of Americans live but which account for 41% of Covid-19 deaths, also remain extremely vulnerable to outbreaks.

“We lack personal protective equipment, we lack comprehensive surveillance and testing, and, to be honest, a number of nursing homes still struggle with infection control,” David C Grabowski, a health policy professor at Harvard Medical School, said. “We’ve seen this play out now twice.”...

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