Coronavirus cases continue to rise at a dramatic rate across the United States, reaching over 22,000 people by Saturday afternoon with 280 deaths.
In the past twelve hours, 3,000 new cases were confirmed bringing the national figure to 22,076 but the large spike is attributed to the improved access to testing which has made positive cases easier to identify.
Almost half of cases are in New York state where there has been 10,356 cases confirmed and 56 deaths. There are 280 deaths nationwide.
There have been no deaths in 18 states and 21 states, plus the three U.S. territories, have less than 100 cases each.
On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first ‘point-of-care’ coronavirus test which can be used in hospitals and emergency rooms, delivering test results in 45 minutes.
A car drives up for drive-thru coronavirus testing in Somerville, Massachusetts, on Wednesday. The increase in these test centers has lead to an increased in the number of cases
Workers in protective gear operate a drive through COVID-19 mobile testing center as the number of cases in U.S. jumps by 3,000 in 12 hours. Testing helps to ensure that positive patients are given the correct treatment and are isolated from others to prevent spread
Members of the Maryland Army National Guard work to set up a triage tent in the parking lot outside of the emergency room at Adventist HealthCare White Oak Medical Center as the number of cases in the U.S. rises over 22,000. There are 190 in Maryland and two deaths
Triage centers are set up in Elmhurst Queens to test for Coronavirus in New York City. These lines could be shortened with thanks to a new test authorized by the FDA late on Friday
Cepheid’s Chief Medical Officer David Persing speaks about the new 45-minute coronavirus test which was given FDA approval on Friday and will be on sale by the end of March
The new test was developed by the company Cepheid which plans to have it on sale by the end of March.
The test will importantly deliver results onsite in 45 minutes at the hospital or emergency room where it is taken, cutting out the time-consuming step of sending the test to a lab.
The FDA granted the California-based company ’emergency use authorization’ for the test rapid molecular test which will decrease the testing process by days.
By cutting the wait for results down to 45 minutes, doctors can almost immediately decide on the best treatment for patients which will ‘help alleviate the pressure’ on struggling healthcare facilities flooded with large numbers of cases and people requiring testing.
‘You can collect a specimen, it can be out of a car or anywhere but then it gets batched with another batch of specimens and gets sent to the reference lab and that takes time,’ explains Cepheid’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. David Persing, of the current testing system.
People line up for a triage center to test for the coronavirus set up in Queens. Long lines for tests are being seen across the country as more cases are confirmed positive
People fill out forms as they wait for a coronavirus test in Queens, New York
Cepheid’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. David Persing show the test tube that a sample can be places in during their new FDA-approved coronavirus test which offers results in 45 minutes
‘And then the reference lab takes time to build up the batches and all of that adds up to days or turnaround time so it’s not quick.’
‘For real-time patient management systems to be made in hospitals, what’s really needed is a test to determine rapid status of infection on site when patients are being seen and admitted.
‘What we need now is a way to identify somebody who has SARS CV2 quickly who represents in a similar way in a relatively severe presentation who’s going to likely be admitted,’ he added.
‘What we’ve developed is a reference lab quality test which can be run at the point of care in about 45 minutes or less.’
While the test can be used in a doctor’s office it will go to hospitals and emergency rooms first when it goes on sale at the end of the month.
The test has been developed to work with Cepheid’s GeneXpert Systems of which there are 5,000 located around the U.S. and 23,000 around the world.
A man wearing a mask sleeps near another person on a sidewalk near the Union Gospel Mission in downtown Seattle. Washington has now registered 1,524 cases
Felix Hassebroek watches his sisters play in the backyard of their home at the end of their first week of home school in New York City where cases have now risen over 6,000
Increased testing is believed to be one of the best measures with which to combat the outbreak and cut it off.
The news comes as the 75 million Americans are warned to stay home and bars, restaurants and stores are boarded up.
President Donald Trump has also spoken about the possibility that the whole country may be placed in a two-week quarantine as 3,300 National Guard soldiers are deployed across 28 states.
New York state was declared a major disaster area by Trump on Friday as the number of cases skyrocketed and Mayor Bill de Blasio deemed it the epicenter of the country’s outbreak.
The city itself has over 6,200 cases, while only two other states – California and Washington – are registering more than 1,000 cases.
The significant jump in cases in New York has been linked to the improved access to testing
Richard Weber Jr., 57, ,died of complications related to the coronavirus in New York on Wednesday despite saying to days earlier that he believed he was doing better and recovering
Governor Andrew Cuomo credited the massive rise in cases to the improved testing system which can now process thousands of tests a day to readily identify positive cases and ensure that they are quarantined and treated.
Between the hours of 10am and 6pm on Friday, 14 people died from coronavirus in New York City, meaning almost two people an hour died, as the total number of deaths in NYC reached 56 people.
Among the city’s deaths was 57-year-old attorney Richard Weber Jr. who had claimed that he was recovering from the virus just two day earlier.
The Manhattan-based partner at Gallo Vitucci Klar died on Wednesday after he revealed on Monday he was hospitalized and had tested positive.
‘He was just a wonderful human being with a real dedication to giving back to others,’ LeGal executive director Eric Lesh told the New York Post.
‘We urge our members and friends to stay safe and healthy. Protect yourselves, friends and family. We are all in this together. We will continue to pursue equality and justice with Richard’s memory and generous spirit in our hearts.’
The New York Army National Guard and U.S. Air Force prepare to hand out food to residents at a distribution station outside New Rochelle High School the original epicenter of the New York Outbreak. Cases in Westchester County are now over 1,300, more than more states
A woman wearing a face mask waits to hand out food to the homeless in California where the third highest number of coronavirus cases have been registered. They stand at 1,259
Second is Washington that has 1,524 cases but the most number of deaths at 83.
Thirty-five of those are linked to the Life Care Center care home that became the first epicenter of the country’s outbreak in February.
In Illinois, which has the sixth largest number of cases, a shelter-in-place order was given on Saturday.
All 50 states have issued an emergency declaration to deal with the coronavirus pandemic with West Virginia only confirming its first cases on Tuesday.
There have been no deaths in 18 states, including North Carolina which has 240 cases but no fatalities compared to other states with significantly less cases.
Only three states are registering cases over a thousand and 21 states still have less than 100 cases.
U.S. territories also have less than 100 cases: Puerto Rico, 17; Guam, 15; and the Virgin Islands, 3.
Up to 70,000 Americans may be confirmed as being infected by with coronavirus by the end of next week according to the director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins.
Collins said he expected to see a ‘pretty dramatic’ increase in the number of people being confirmed – but stressed that it ‘doesn’t mean necessarily that the outbreak has exploded at an even more rapid rate.’
‘It just means we’re now able to find out who’s out there, who is infected,’ because ‘testing is now going to be much more available across the country,’ he said.
‘We will probably see four, five times that number of cases a week or 10 days from now.’