COVID-19 hospitalizations are at an all-time high

By Caroline Mimbs Nyce , Senior Associate Editor, The Atlantic

This pandemic never stopped being serious. But the situation just got more so.

COVID-19 hospitalizations are up to an all-time high, and with them, fears that America’s hospitals could be overwhelmed. Unlike in the spring, the hot spots aren’t contained to a region, my colleagues at the COVID Tracking Project write: 17 states are reporting peaks.

That could make it “harder to mobilize surges of frontline workers to areas where health-care systems are at risk of failure.”

The U.S. records more than 140,000 new coronavirus cases, the latest all-time high as numbers march higher (Washington Post)

In better news, a vaccine looks more promising than ever. Until then, Americans must once again assume the role assigned to them in March: Taking precautions to alleviate the strain on the country’s health-care system.

• Here’s how to tell if socializing indoors is safe. “Perhaps the most important factor is the level of so-called community transmission: how many new COVID-19 cases are in your immediate area,” Olga Khazan reports.
  
• There’s a difference between feeling safe and being safe. The pandemic has broken America’s understanding of what to fear, Amanda Mull argued last month.
  
• Even before the latest surge, experts advised against travel for the holidays. If you do decide to go home, consider taking these seven precautions to mitigate risk.
  
• Struggling to tell loved ones you won’t be able to celebrate together? We asked one expert for advice on how to have that difficult conversation.  

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