The U.S. again reported a new record high in coronavirus-related hospitalizations on Thursday, marking the 32nd day in a row that the country has seen an increase, according to The COVID Tracking Project. There were 90,481 people hospitalized due to the virus on Thanksgiving, according to the data, an increase of 522 from the day prior.
Health officials had warned Americans not to travel on Thanksgiving to visit family and friends citing a risk of spreading or contracting the novel coronavirus, as hospital systems across the U.S. warned about nearing or reaching full capacity.
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In Wisconsin, for instance, a top executive with the Mayo Clinic Health System told Fox News that they’ve been forced to put a number of beds in the ambulance garage. Dr. Richard Helmers said that due to the high numbers of coronavirus-related hospitalizations and strained capacity, emergency beds were being utilized in the garage to “accommodate busy periods in the emergency department.”
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The setup is not used for coronavirus patients, however.
Last week, a state health official warned that the virus spread was “out of control” in Alabama, which as of Friday had reported over 242,870 cases and 3,572 deaths. To date, the state has seen nearly 24,500 hospitalizations.
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Indiana, Nebraska and Oklahoma reported new record-highs for hospitalizations, while on the East Coast, Rhode Island’s governor warned about running out of hospital beds by the end of the month due to the virus.
On Thursday, President Trump said in a message to U.S. troops serving overseas that vaccine deliveries would begin as early as next week. It was not immediately clear which vaccine candidate currently under review he was referring to, but it is also not yet known what effect – if any – a vaccine will have on the transmission of the virus. The current coronavirus vaccines applying for emergency use authorization have seen success in preventing severe illness in recipients.
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As of Friday, the U.S. had tallied more than 12.9 million cases of coronavirus and more than 264,100 deaths.
Fox News' Kayla Rivas contributed to this report.