Louie Lopez showed up at the downtown Jacksonville Main Library Conference Center in the early afternoon for a Regeneron therapy appointment. His primary care doctor recommended it after Lopez tested positive for COVID-19 and was experiencing moderate to severe symptoms.
While waiting in line for his turn, two other people got in the line behind Lopez. Both of them, he says, sat down on the floor immediately. They eventually laid down “sick and moaning.” Lopez, 59, told The Florida Times-Union, part of the USA TODAY Network, that the woman pictured in yellow was dragging herself on the floor as the line slowly moved forward.
Lopez took a photo and sent it to his wife.
The therapy treatment is for people in the early stages of COVID-19 and the makeshift clinic where Lopez took the photo is not meant to serve as a full-fledged hospital. But amid rising COVID infections and increased worry, some people in more advanced stages of COVID have opted to go to makeshift clinics instead of hospitals due to potentially long waits.
Despite the huge spike in coronavirus cases across the nation, some analysts believed the number of deaths – a lagging indicator – would not soar nearly as swiftly because of the protection from severe disease provided by vaccines.
The increase has indeed been less dramatic, but no less worrisome – and it's picking up.
Deaths are rising in 42 states, the worst tally seen since December with the U.S. Thursday reporting 625,000 deaths. In the week ending Wednesday, the U.S. reported 5,742 deaths, nearly double the total from two weeks earlier. The 10,991 Americans who died of COVID-19 in the first 18 days of August are already more than all the fatalities in June or July.
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