The number of Americans who are currently in hospitals with COVID-19 climbed above 145,000 on Wednesday, as the highly transmissible omicron variant races across the country, and President Joe Biden will deploy military medical personnel to six states to help hospitals cope, according to the New York Times. There were 145,005 people in hospitals with COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to a New York Times tracker, up 82% from two weeks ago. The daily average case number rose to 781,203, up 159% from two weeks ago, while the daily average for COVID-19-related deaths is up 51% from two weeks ago to 1,827. Biden will send military medics to hospitals in Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island, the paper reported, citing White House officials. The news will be announced later Thursday and medics will help triage emergency arrivals to free up staff to care for patients.
On a global basis, the total tally for COVID-19 cases hiked up above 317.2 million and the death toll rose above 5.51 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. leads the world with a total COVID-19 case count of 63.2 million and death toll of 844,562.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
