https://youtu.be/Aw6egSqLp3I
The deadly reality of America’s bitter battle against coronavirus was obvious to families that gathered across the country for Thanksgiving dinner: There were empty seats around the table. In Deer Park, New York, Vivian Zayas replaced a seat from the table at her home with her late mother’s walker. She scrolled through photos of last Thanksgiving, when her mother, Ana Martinez, who died in April of COVID-19, stood at the stove making a pot of rice and beans. For Jessica Franz, a nurse who works the graveyard shift at Olathe Medical Center in a Kansas suburb, a typical year would have her mother-in-law laying out a feast for her children. That didn’t happen this year: Elaine Franz died of the coronavirus on Nov. 10, a day before her 78th birthday. The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations continues to rise, hitting a record for the 17th straight day Thursday with more than 90,400 admissions, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Tuesday and Wednesday saw record deaths of over 2,100 each day, according to John Hopkins University data. Every minute, 114 Americans are testing positive for COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Every hour, 65 Americans are dying. The turnaround time for test results is lagging, too. Amid a record demand ahead of the Thanksgiving weekend, Quest Diagnostics said this week that it’s taking up to three days to complete a test after receiving a sample. LabCorp, another large private lab company, reported tests now taking up to two days. The U.S. has reported more than 12.8 million cases and over 263,400 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. This week week, five states set death records and 23 states had higher case counts than last week. The global totals: more than 61 million cases and 1.4 million deaths.