COVID hospitalizations hit ANOTHER record high of 125,544 and US airports see busiest day of the pandemic with over 1.19M travelers as Dr Fauci says holiday surge is 'terrible but predictable'
The US set a new coronavirus hospitalization record for the fifth time in the last week on Sunday with more than 125,500, as American airports saw their busiest day since the start of the pandemic with more than 1.19 million passengers taking to the skies.
The latest hospitalization numbers came from the COVID Tracking Project, which noted that the true number is likely even higher as 14 states and territories had not yet published their tallies for Sunday.
At least 204,805 new cases and 1,431 new deaths were reported around the country on Sunday, excluding seven states and territories that hadn't shared any data by the time of COVID Tracking's update.
Despite alarming surges over the holiday season millions of Americans have ignored experts' pleas and continued traveling by air.
US airports saw more passengers than any day since the start of the pandemic on Saturday with 1,192,881, according to the Transportation Security Administration. Since December 18, more than 16.3 million people have passed through airport checkpoints.
Dr Anthony Fauci on Sunday said he is not surprised that coronavirus infections have continued to skyrocket around the US.
'It's terrible, it's unfortunate, but it was predictable,' Fauci told Meet the Press.
He and other top health officials have warned that the numbers will only get worse in the next few weeks as the effects of holiday travel and gatherings become clear.
In another interview on Sunday, Fauci disputed a claim by President Donald Trump that federal data on COVID-19 cases and deaths in the United States is overblown.
The US set a new coronavirus hospitalization record for the fifth time in the last week on Sunday with more than 125,500. Pictured: A COVID-19 patient lies on a bed in the ICU at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston on Friday
Despite alarming surges over the holiday season millions of Americans have ignored experts' pleas and continued traveling by air. US airports saw more passengers than any day since the start of the pandemic on Saturday with 1,192,881, according to the Transportation Security Administration. The graphic above shows flight traffic on Saturday
At least 204,805 new cases and 1,431 new deaths were reported around the US on Sunday, excluding seven states and territories that hadn't shared any data by the time of COVID Tracking Project's update (pictured)
Hospitalizations have risen by 162 percent in the last two months, setting new records on five days in the last week. COVID Tracking Project's tally of 125,544 on Sunday excluded seven states and territories which had not yet reported daily data
Daily coronavirus statistics have been skewed in recent weeks due to delays in reporting over the holiday period.
COVID Tracking Project noted in its Sunday update that seven states and territories out of 56 it tracks had not yet shared their daily data: Arkansas, Connecticut, Kansas, Michigan, Rhode Island, Washington and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Seven additional states did not report current hospitalizations: Hawaii, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon and Wisconsin.
Hospitalizations in the US have risen by 162 percent in the past two months, setting new records on five different days in the last week.
Fauci and other experts have repeatedly warned that the spike in hospitalizations will inevitably be followed by a spike in deaths, with the CDC predicting a total of 383,000 to 424,000 COVID-19 fatalities by the week ending January 23, 2021.
On the high end of the model, that could mean that more than 73,000 people could die within the next three weeks.
President Trump attacked the CDC's tabulation methods in a tweet on Sunday, asserting that its tallies are blown out of proportion.
'The number of cases and deaths of the China Virus is far exaggerated in the United States because of the @CDCgov's ridiculous method of determination compared to other countries, many of whom report, purposely, very inaccurately and low,' he wrote.
He later added: 'Something how Dr. Fauci is revered by the LameStream Media as such a great professional, having done, they say, such an incredible job, yet he works for me and the Trump Administration, and I am in no way given any credit for my work. Gee, could this just be more Fake News?'
Fauci and US Surgeon General Jerome Adams defended the accuracy of CDC data in interviews on Sunday.
'The deaths are real deaths,' Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on ABC News' This Week. He added that jam-packed hospitals and stressed-out healthcare workers are 'not fake. That's real.'
Adams echoed Fauci's defense of the CDC on CNN's State of the Union, saying: 'From a public health perspective, I have no reason to doubt those numbers and I think people need to be very aware that it's not just about the deaths. It's about the hospitalizations, the capacity.'
Dr Anthony Fauci (left) and Surgeon General Jerome Adams (right) defended the accuracy of CDC data in interviews Sunday
Trump leaves office on January 20 after losing a bid for a second term to Democrat Joe Biden. He has frequently has downplayed the severity of the pandemic.
The president has also scorned and ignored federal recommendations for containing the spread.
Fauci told ABC: 'To have 300,000 cases in a given day, and between two- and three-thousand deaths a day is just terrible. There's no running away from the numbers.'
He added: 'All you need to do is go out into the trenches. Go to the hospitals and see what the health care workers are dealing with. They are under very stressful situations in many areas of the country. The hospital beds are stretched, people are running out of beds, running out of trained personnel who are exhausted.'
States have reported record numbers of cases over the past few days, and funeral homes in Southern California are being inundated with bodies.
Experts believe the real numbers of deaths and infections are much higher and that many cases were overlooked, in part because of insufficient testing.
Fauci and Adams expressed optimism that the pace of vaccinating Americans against the virus is accelerating after a slow start.
More than 4.2 million people have been inoculated since December 14 with one of two vaccines, far short of the Trump administration's goal of 20 million by the end of 2020.
'We wanted to get to 20 million, but some glimmer of hope is that in the last 72 hours, they've gotten 1.2 million doses into peoples' arms, which is an average of about 500,000 a day,' Fauci said. 'We are not where we want to be. There's no doubt about that. But I think we can get there.'
He said he believed that the number of daily vaccinations could be expanded to one million and called for 'a real partnership' between the federal and state governments.
The CDC was in September forced to issue a statement in which they denied exaggerating the number of COVID deaths.
They said then: 'In 94% of deaths with COVID-19, other conditions are listed in addition to COVID-19. These causes may include chronic conditions like diabetes or hypertension.
'In 6% of the death certificates that list Covid-19, only one cause or condition is listed.
'The underlying cause of death is the condition that began the chain of events that ultimately led to the person's death. In 92% of all deaths that mention Covid-19, Covid-19 is listed as the underlying cause of death."
Trump leaves office on January 20 after losing a bid for a second term to Democrat Joe Biden. He has frequently has downplayed the severity of the pandemic. The president has also scorned and ignored federal recommendations for containing the spread
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