Surge Is So Bad That Task Force Needs New Color Scale To Illustrate Scope

Center for Public Integrity: 'Darkest Red' For The Coronavirus Surge: Task Force Pleads With States To Do More
The White House Coronavirus Task Force this week added a new color to its maps — “darkest red” — as it tried to convey the severity of the surge in coronavirus cases and deaths in weekly reports to governors. But the White House has stopped sending the reports to states unless officials specifically request them, further restricting access to recommendations intended to save lives.  “The fall surge is merging with the post-Thanksgiving surge to create a winter surge with the most rapid increase in cases; the widest spread, with more than 2,000 counties in COVID red zones; and the longest duration, now entering the 9th week, we have experienced,” the task force wrote. “Many Americans continue to gather indoors, creating private spreading events.” (Essley Whyte, 12/17)

The Hill: US Hits Grim New Daily Record With 3,656 Coronavirus Deaths 
The U.S. hit a grim new daily record with 3,656 COVID-19 deaths and 276,403 new cases on Wednesday, according to real-time data from Johns Hopkins University. Wednesday marked the fourth day since the pandemic began that the U.S. surpassed 3,000 COVID-19 deaths in a day. It also was the 44th consecutive day that the U.S. confirmed more than 100,000 new cases in a day. (Coleman, 12/17)

The Atlantic: COVID-19 Is Hitting Spring And Summer Hot Spots Again
Back in the spring, before the first surge of the coronavirus had fully diminished, public-health experts were already warning of a second surge. Shutdowns were ending and public spaces reopening, but as the months turned cold, they said, cases could spike again—more dramatically, even, than in the first wave. The reprieve after the first wave, though, was short: By June, case numbers were climbing again. As northerners were headed outside, southerners were headed inside, where the virus spreads most easily, and the country’s summer surge began. (Moser, 12/17)

Courier-Journal: Kentucky Suffers Worst Day For COVID-19 Deaths Thursday With 54 Losses
The coronavirus pandemic that already has killed more than 2,300 Kentuckians exacted its deadliest toll yet Thursday — with 54 people dying in a single day from the virus. The death toll obliterated the previous daily record, when 37 people died of COVID-19 on Dec. 2. The news comes the same day the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Gov. Andy Beshear, refusing to step in after he halted in-person classes at K-12 schools — public and private — through the end of the year in an attempt to stem the virus's unrelenting spread across Kentucky. (Ladd, 12/17)

KHN: No More ICU Beds At The Main Public Hospital In The Nation’s Largest County As COVID Surges 
She lay behind a glass barrier, heavily sedated, kept alive by a machine that blew oxygen into her lungs through a tube taped to her mouth and lodged at the back of her throat. She had deteriorated rapidly since arriving a short time earlier. “Her respiratory system is failing, and her cardiovascular system is failing,” said Dr. Luis Huerta, a critical care expert in the intensive care unit. The odds of survival for the patient, who could not be identified for privacy reasons, were poor, Huerta said. (Wolfson and de Marco, 12/18)

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The Hill: 8 Nuns Die Of COVID-19 At Milwaukee Retirement Home In One Week 
Eight residents of a Milwaukee retirement home for nuns have died of COVID-19, School Sisters of Notre Dame Central Pacific Province announced. Provincial leader Debra Maria Sciano said the first died last week, with four dying just this Monday, according to The Associated Press. (Budryk, 12/17)

Bloomberg: Pandemic Is Starting To Hit North American Meat Plants Again
Meat packers across North America are bracing for a resurgence of coronavirus cases, trying to avoid the shutdowns that left supermarket shelves empty earlier in the pandemic. Cargill Inc. has temporarily idled one of its beef plants in Canada after some employees tested positive. JBS, the world’s top meat producer, sent thousands of vulnerable U.S. workers home on paid leave, while Sanderson Farms Inc. said it’s now facing higher absenteeism at its plants than earlier in the pandemic. (Almeida and Hirtzer, 12/18)

KHN: Ski Resorts Work To Stay Open As COVID Cases Snowball
The day after Thanksgiving, Dr. Jana Eller and Dr. Shiraz Naqvi were seated beside an outdoor fire pit at the base of Telluride Ski Resort, taking a short break from skiing. The two physicians from Houston had driven more than 18 hours to get here for the holiday weekend, and they were staying (and preparing meals) in a rented home. They traveled with another couple and their kids, colleagues they’ve been “bubbling” with in Houston. (Aschwanden, 12/18)