RI Suffers 67 Coronavirus Deaths This Week and Record Number of New Cases—Up 2,500% Since July
Saturday, December 05, 2020
This week 67 Rhode Islanders died of the coronavirus.
This week alone there were 8,006 cases -- the first week in July, there were less than 300 cases.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe amount of new cases has increased by more than 2,500% since that weekly low after the spring peak.
The explosive growth of new cases will soon flood into the already overflowing hospitals in Rhode Island. Rhode Island's COVID beds were filled a week ago and the auxiliary hospital in Cranston began taking patients on Monday.
According to former Rhode Island Director of Health Michael Fine, positive cases, in general, need hospitalization within about a week after diagnosis.
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Of the 8006 positive cases, approximately 5% will need hospitalization — another 400 or more.
And, based on existing data, about 1% of those who test positive will die from the virus. That percentage has greatly improved from the spring peak when more than 3% died.
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This Week’s Spike
This week’s new news is especially grim as Rhode Island was one of the most infected states in the country coming into the winter and the height of the second wave.
According to data tracked by Covid ActNow, Rhode Island has seen a nearly non-stop growth in the number of cases per 100,000 since September 6.
On Friday, in the United States, 228,767 people were infected with the virus — an increase of 9% over 14 days and 2,637 died, an increase of 42% over the same two week period.
