Coronavirus: US braces for worse as death toll surges

The death toll from coronavirus in the US has smashed through the 10,000 mark, although there are tentative signs of a plateau in New York.

Bodies are moved to a refrigeration truck serving as a temporary morgue at Wyckoff Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. Picture: AFP

The death toll from coronavirus in the US has smashed through the 10,000 mark, although there are tentative signs of a plateau in the death rate in the nation’s hotspot of New York.

The grim milestone of 10,000 deaths — the world’s third-highest after Italy and Spain — was reached after about 1000 more deaths on Tuesday.

The US now has about 370,000 confirmed cases of the virus — close to three times that of any other nation — with more than 10,990 deaths.

President Donald Trump said the country was entering “a critical and difficult phase of our battle … New York and New Jersey are very hot zones”.

“The next week and a half is going to be a big surge,” Mr Trump said, as he praised the country’s healthcare workers as “intrepid heroes” and “warriors”.

Mr Trump also praised British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has been admitted to intensive care in London with the virus.

“We’re very saddened to hear that he was taken into intensive care,” he said. “He’s been a really good friend. He’s been really something very special.’’

America’s coronavirus epicentre of New York recorded another­ 599 deaths on Tuesday, but Governor Andrew Cuomo said he was encouraged that the numbers had not jumped higher after 594 deaths the previous day and 630 before that. The state’s death toll stands at 4758.

Mr Cuomo said it was early days but that the state could be experiencin­g a “flattening of the curve” given that the death toll has been “effectively flat for two days”.

“While none of this is good news, (it) is better than the increases we have seen,’’ he said.

He also noted that the intubations, hospitalisations and intensive care unit admissions were also down. But he warned the numbers may still rise sharply again and that the strain on the state’s medical system was unsustainable.

“If we are plateauing, we are plateauing at a very high level,” he said. “And there is tremendous stress on the healthcare system.”

“This is a hospital system where we have our foot to the floor, and the engine is at redline. And you can’t go any faster, and by the way you can’t stay at redline for any ­period of time, because the system will blow.”

Despite the strain of the health system and the ongoing risk of running out of ventilators and a shortage of healthcare staff, Mr Cuomo said no patients had yet died because of these shortages.

“Have we lost anyone because we didn’t have a bed or a ventilator or healthcare staff? No,” he said. “The people we lost were the ­people we couldn’t save.”

However, in another hotspot, Louisiana, Governor John Bel ­Edwards warned that the state could run out of ventilators on Friday­ AEST.

Louisiana has the fastest rate of infections in the country, with more than 500 dead since the first case was discovered on March 9.

Other virus hotspots Michigan and New Jersey are expected to have deaths peak within days. US Surgeon General Jerome Adams has warned that America faces anothe­r “Pearl Harbor” situation this week, with expectations of a surge in coronavirus deaths.

“The next week is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment,” Dr Adams said. “It’s going to be our 9/11 moment … it’s going to be the hardest moment for many Americans in their entire lives.”

Mr Trump also revealed he had a 15-minute phone conversation about the federal government’s handling of the coronavirus with his likely Democrat presidential opponent, Joe Biden.

The two had previously taunted each other on Twitter but Mr Trump said their was call was “very friendly”. “He gave me his point of view and I fully understand that and we just had a very friendly conversat­ion … it was really good, really nice,“ the President said.

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia