per day. now look at it. up to a quarter of a million cases per day. as you mentioned earlier, about 31 states are now breaking hospitalization records. let me throw some other numbers at you specific to the carolinas. the number of new covid-19 cases in south carolina has gone up 1,285% just in the past two weeks. and north carolina, new covid-19 cases are up 425% in that same time period. now, the good news here is, of course, a lot of the cases and illnesses are mild. people are generally able to get some tlc at home and take care of themselves. because of the sheer rise in numbers means a huge rise in hospitalizations. we talked to one doctor at duke university hospital in durham to tell us what he s experienced. we went from 60 patients needing beds to 260 patients needing beds in the space of about three weeks.
for hospitalizations this weekend. and it is not just an east coast, here s ohio. you see the same thing, a case chart where the number is just straight up to the moon in recent days. but as of this week, and look at the new hospitalization records in ohio to. and in new york, the state with the most cases per capita right now. look at the rise in those case numbers. cases just keep soaring every day, there s been no relief in terms of new case numbers. so far, at the state of new york has not said the hospitalization record but look at where it is going. every new update the state is inching closer to last winter s hospitalization peak. and that incline, you see on the far-right of that chart is very steep. it could mean a lot of patients ahead all at once. we are seeing record breaking numbers, not just of cases of hospitalization in the first hard-hit states. and if those first hearted states are an indicator of where we are heading as a country it looks like, well
test lines remain coast to coast. you can t find an at home rapid test in this area. reporter: at least 21 states now reporting hospitalization records and some health care centers are again overwhelmed and understaffed maryland declaring a state of emergency. the next four to six weeks will be the most challenging time of the entire pandemic reporter: in rhode island, two medical centers calling covid positive health-care workers back to the job if they have mild symptoms the impact growing on schools, too the chicago teachers union voting tonight whether they ll refuse to report in person beginning tomorrow, and instead teach remotely many schools in philadelphia now joining atlanta, newark, and milwaukee temporarily going remote due to rising cases and staff shortages. it s harder for me to learn because some of the stuff i don t know because it s new. peter, i know the cdc has faced backlash for advising covid
There is a significant difference between the number of people in the hospital because of Covid -19 symptoms and the number of people in the hospital for any of a variety of other reasons (accident, injury, scheduled procedures, other illness) who just happen to test positive for Covid-19.
scrapping their return this month. omicron is truly everywhere. what i m so worried about over the next month or so is that our economy is going to shut down not because of policies from the federal government or from the state governments, but rather because so many of us are ill. a bit of good news is that this strain is not breaking hospitalization records. at least not yet. much more of the population is vaccinated than it was in last winter s surge and some studies have pointed to reasons this variant may be less deadly than its delta predecessor. as we enter the new year, i m more optimistic about america s future than i ve ever been. at our best, we ve taken every crisis we have faced and turned it into an opportunity to be a stronger and better nation. there s nothing we can t do if we re together. the president refers to himself as an optimist, but is