Since the peak of the delta surge in September, the number of cases has been declining nationally. The average number of new cases in the United States is 73,000 per day. This is significantly lower than the 173,000 reported on September 13. Since September, the number of Americans with COVID-19 in hospitals has fallen by half to 47,000.
If the positive numbers continue, Miami-Dade County could relax its mask mandate by October. The Broward County, which is nearby, will also discuss relaxing its requirement. According to the superintendent of metro Atlanta, he is open to considering waiving mask requirements for individual schools.
After it reached a certain state vaccination threshold, a Massachusetts high school became the first to allow masks to be optional. Hopkinton High had approximately 95% of its eligible students vaccinated. School leaders decided to allow Hopkinton High staff and students to wear masks for a trial period of three weeks beginning Nov. 1.
There are still some warning signs, such as the onset and persistence of cold temperatures, which can send people indoors where the virus can spread more easily.
The University of Washington's COVID-19 prediction model, which predicts increasing hospitalizations and infections in November, has seen required mask usage decrease in many parts of the U.S.
After a fall that began in September, COVID-19 death rates per day have started to rise again. The death rate is now at 1,700 per day, compared to close to 1,500 just two weeks ago.
Unvaccinated areas are still being affected by the virus, including rural areas in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wyoming and Alaska. The eligible population of the United States is now at 67%. The Biden administration is moving closer to mandating workplace vaccinations for all businesses with over 100 employees.
According to Jared Kosin (president and CEO of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association), Alaska has been ranked near the top in per capita case rates for the past month. However, there are still tensions between hospitals and health care workers. Recent heated debates over masks in Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, escalated. Hospital and public health officials reported last month hostilities towards health care workers regarding COVID-19.
He said that it is not clear if the state's cases have peaked during this recent surge.
It's not slowing down and that's what I find the most difficult part of this. You can't see the end of the road, but you know there's going to be a steep decline. We'll get through it. It just seems to happen and then it hits.
Hospitals in Wyoming are seeing more patients than ever before, despite being sparsely populated and having one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. Wyoming's vaccine rate is just 43%, meaning that the vast majority of Wyoming's hospitalized patients have not received the vaccine. West Virginia is the only state that ranks lower.
According to the Casper Star Tribune, Dr. Mark Dowell, public health officer at Wyoming Medical Center said that it was "like a war zone." "The ICU has been overrun."
Many people in North Dakota's smaller hospitals are receiving long-delayed treatment for other conditions. However, when they are combined with COVID patients the facilities are stretched to their limits, according to Dan Olson, executive Director of a network that includes many such facilities.
Olson stated, "They have beds in the afternoon and can talk in morning. By afternoon they might be exhausted."
A man in rural Minnesota waited for two days to be admitted to an ICU bed. He later died. Bob Cameron, 87 years old, was admitted to Hallock's hospital with severe gastrointestinal bleeding. He also had COVID-19. Officials looked for a bigger center.
The hospital's blood supply was exhausted by the bleeding. State troopers drove 130 miles (209 km) with new units. However, his condition worsened and he passed away on Oct. 13, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Janna Curry, Cameron's grand-daughter, said, "We can't tell for sure, of course that he would survive if he got into an ICU bed earlier, but we just feel that he would,".
This month, more patients were treated in rural Minnesota hospitals than in Minneapolis-St. Paul's main urban center.
