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U.S. surpasses 100,000 COVID-related hospitalizations for the first time

03 December 2020
Dan Ackermann

More than 100,200 Americans were hospitalized as of Wednesday due to the coronavirus for the first time since the outbreak began in early 2020, per the COVID Tracking Project.

The big picture: The milestone comes as health officials anticipated cases to surge following holiday travel and gatherings. The impact of the holiday remains notable, as many states across the country are only reporting partial data updates.

Flashback: The daily rate of new coronavirus infections rose by about 10% in week leading up to Thanksgiving, continuing a dismal trend that may get even worse in the weeks to come.

  • Before the Thanksgiving holiday, the COVID Tracking Project warned of a "double-weekend pattern.
  • "Far fewer people will be tested on Thanksgiving Day, and perhaps on the day after as well, and then the usual weekend pattern will begin," it said.
  • "Death reporting, too, will slow down for an unknown number of days."

What to watch: That backlog is expected to clear sometime this week, resulting in a potentially confusing surge on all metrics.

By the numbers: The U.S. reported 13.7 million cases (confirmed and probable), 1.4 million tests, 196,000 cases and 2,733 deaths on Wednesday.

  • To date, 264,522 people in the country have died from the virus.
  • California confirmed more than 20,000 COVID-19 infections on Wednesday — the highest daily case count for any state to date.
  • Wednesday's virus death count is the second highest on record following May 7, and marks the first time deaths have exceeded 5,000 in a two-day stretch.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.