Not 'Just A Statistic': Doctor Honors Fallen Health Care Workers

ACROSS AMERICA — Dr. Claire Rezba, an anesthesiologist in Richmond, Virginia, was livid when she first started collecting the names of doctors, nurses, and other health care workers who died of COVID-19.

Just a month into the pandemic, Rezba had recorded more than 150 deaths. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data put the death toll at 27.

“I was livid that the numbers were so discordant," Rezba, who maintains a Twitter account highlighting health care workers who have died during the pandemic, told Forbes. "At that point, it became more of a mission to ensure these sacrifices weren't going unnoticed and unacknowledged.”

CDC data now reports more than 322,000 cases of Covid-19 in healthcare workers and more than 1,000 deaths. Compared to 37 other countries, the United States has the most infections and the risk of infection and death is also significantly higher for healthcare workers of color.

It's important to Rezba to connect the numbers to faces and names.

Isabelle Odette Papadimitriou was a survivor who had been through everything in life and found happiness in Dallas. She was also a respiratory therapist that was known to sit with patients who didn’t have friends or family and provide support and a smiling face.

Martin Addison was a romantic. He was the guy who on the fourth date spent all day building your Ikea furniture. He was also a proud father and husband.

“You don't want them to just be a statistic,” Martin’s wife of five and a half years, Pamela, said of her husband and others who died. “They were the people we loved. We were supposed to spend the rest of our lives with them and you know COVID-19 robbed them."

Read more via Forbes

The Latest

As the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States has topped 19 million, one in 17 Americans have tested positive since the beginning of the pandemic, data from The New York Times shows. Even more alarming, the death toll that has risen above 332,000 means 1 in 1,000 people in the United States have not survived the first nine months of the pandemic.

These numbers come as unemployment assistance runs out for millions of Americans, the government faces a shutdown and an impasse returns over any potential federal relief.

Meanwhile, more and more Americans are saying they're eager to receive one of two newly-approved vaccines.

Over the past few weeks, as the vaccine went from a hypothetical to a reality, new surveys show attitudes shifting among Americans.

In polls by Gallup, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Pew Research Center, the portion of people saying they are now likely or certain to take the vaccine has grown from about 50 percent this summer to more than 60 percent, and in one poll 73 percent — a figure that approaches what some public health experts say would be sufficient for herd immunity.

Currently, about 2 million people have received the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The new survey results spell good news as the nation continues to reel from the devastating effects of the coronavirus. New data from Johns Hopkins University on Saturday revealed that 1 in every 1,000 Americans has died from COVID-19.

Meanwhile, millions who celebrated Christmas this week did so alone or while struggling to make ends meet. Some were worried about paying rent next week. Others celebrated the holiday with empty bellies, thanks to the pandemic's economic toll.

On Saturday, crucial supplemental unemployment benefits were set to expire without an extension in place.

• With Relief Bill In Limbo, Lapse In Jobless Benefits Inevitable

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump spent Christmas in Florida playing golf.

The holiday came just two days after the president torpedoed a $900 billion stimulus package passed by Congress. The legislation, which passed after nearly 8 months of back-and-forth negotiating in Congress, is set to include $600 direct payments to cash-strapped Americans. It also provides an extension of an eviction moratorium, additional unemployment benefits to Americans out of work, and food aid.

Earlier this week, Trump assailed the provisions in the bill and called on lawmakers to increase direct payments for most Americans from $600 to $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for couples. While Democrats attempted to call Trump's bluff on Thursday by proposing a vote on $2,000 payments, the move was blocked by Republicans.

Failure to sign the bill, which arrived in Florida on Thursday night, could deny crucial aid to millions of Americans on the brink. Without the legislation, the country is also facing a government shutdown and the end of a ban on evictions.

Congress, which recessed for the holiday on Thursday, is scheduled to reconvene on Monday afternoon.

• Republicans Block $2,000 Virus Checks Despite Trump Demand
• Stimulus Package In Jeopardy After Trump Makes New Demands

The back-and-forth in Washington comes amid a holiday when more people are being hospitalized with the coronavirus than at any other point during the pandemic. According to the Covid Tracking Project, 118,948 people were hospitalized the day after Christmas with coronavirus-related illnesses.

Meanwhile, California this week became the first state to surpass 2 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to multiple reports. The milestone comes about six weeks after the state hit 1 million cases.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said hospitals are under "unprecedented pressure" and if current trends continue the number of those hospitalized because of the virus could double in 30 days.
This prediction could prove catastrophic to already overwhelmed hospitals.

Just before the holiday, California had record numbers of COVID-19 patients in the hospital and in ICUs, at nearly 19,000 and nearly 4,000, respectively. Friday figures showed no increase in hospitalizations and there were a few more ICU beds available, for a total of around 1,400 statewide, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Meanwhile, an explosion of coronavirus cases and deaths is also hitting Southern states with a perilous force, according to the New York Times. Six Southern states have seen sustained case increases in the last week: Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and Texas.

Newest Numbers

At least 1,429 deaths and 192,106 new cases had been reported in the United States as of 5:30 p.m. ET Saturday, according to a Washington Post database. The Post's reporting shows new daily cases have fallen 12.9 percent, new daily deaths fell 5.3 percent and COVID-19-related hospitalizations are up 0.1 percent.

As of Sunday, 47 states and Puerto Rico remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen. To safely reopen, the WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days. Currently, only Hawaii, Alaska, Vermont Washington, D.C., Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are under that threshold.

As of Sunday morning, the United States had reported more than 18.9 million cases and more than 331,900 deaths from COVID-19-related illnesses, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Stay up to date on the latest coronavirus news via The New York Times or Washington Post.

Read More Across America

• She Tested Positive For Coronavirus; 20 Minutes Later She Died
• 'We Are Fighting Back': Texans Look Forward To End Of Tragic Year
• New Year's Eve 2020 In NYC Will Be Unrecognizable: What To Expect
• Most New Yorkers Think Christmas Will Spread COVID: Patch Survey
• White House Task Force Predicts More GA Coronavirus Deaths
• Coronavirus Closes Dozens Of Philly-Area Restaurants