Officials across America are preparing new rules and other steps to help cope with the spiraling pandemic

While the hospital can add beds and equipment, “we can’t create doctors … we can’t create nurses to take care of patients,” she said. ” … I think we’re all just really, really scared of what’s to come.”

This latest surge in coronavirus cases nationwide is mainly being driven by people without symptoms gathering indoors, according to Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The real driver of this epidemic now is not the public square,” Redfield said in an interview with Fox News. “It really is driven by the silent epidemic — the asymptomatic infections largely in individuals between the ages of say 12 and 35.”

Redford noted transmission patterns are now very different from those seen in the spring in major metropolitan areas because transmission this time around is occurring when people take off their masks and gather in homes.

“In some areas, we are going to see the health care system overwhelmed,” Redfield said. “This is why, again, the vigilance in the mitigation steps is so important to keep those health care systems from going over the top in terms of being able to maintain their resilience — not just to serve people with Covid, but to serve (people) without Covid.”

Adm. Brett Giroir, Assistant Secretary for Health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, said if a person does decide to travel, they shouldn’t bother getting tested before their trip.

“You notice the CDC doesn’t say an important mitigation step is get a test before you go travel for the holidays, because that doesn’t mean that you’re free,” Giroir said at a news conference Tuesday. “And in fact, we know that a single task can provide (a) false sense of security. You still have to wear your mask and everything else.”

The end of the pandemic is in sight, Giroir said.

“We have to double down on public health measures,” he said. “We know what to do.”

States begin cracking down on Covid restrictions

The US has reported more than 3.3 million infections since the start of November — the most reported in a single month.

The average number of daily new infections across a week reached more than 196,000 on Monday — the highest on record, Johns Hopkins University data show.

On top of that, the US reported 2,081 deaths Tuesday, according Johns Hopkins data. It’s is the 21st day that the US has ever added more than 2,000 new deaths. The country has not seen new death numbers this high since May.

The surge in cases has caused states to reinstate or roll back on restrictions.

Louisiana is stepping back to phase two of its restrictions, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Tuesday. This means restaurants, gyms and non-essential businesses are limited to 50% capacity, churches and places of worship limited to 75% capacity. Social distancing and masks must be used, Edwards said.

Edwards is also limiting indoor gatherings to 25% capacity or no more than 75 people and outdoor gatherings to no more than 150 people. Spectator sporting events are limited to a 25% capacity.

In New York, officials on Staten Island are reopening an emergency Covid-19 facility that had 200 patients in the spring, this time to help handle hospitalization levels that have nearly tripled on the island in the past three weeks, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

Most Americans have changed their Thanksgiving plans, poll finds

But 61% of Americans did alter their Thanksgiving plans in some way because of rising Covid-19 cases, according to poll results released Tuesday by Axios-Ipsos.

The most common changes reported were deciding to see only immediate household members, and having a smaller dinner than originally planned, according to the poll, which was based on a nationally representative sample of 1,002 US adults and conducted November 20-23.

About 9% said they no longer plan to celebrate the holiday at all.

Among those changing their plans: New York’s Gov. Cuomo.

Cuomo had told WAMC radio host Alan Chartock on Monday that his mother was planning on traveling to Albany to join him and two of his daughters for Thanksgiving.

In a news conference later in the day, Cuomo warned New Yorkers that coronavirus would make it dangerous to hold Thanksgiving celebrations as usual. The apparent dissonance drew the ire of some people on Twitter.

On Tuesday, his adviser Rich Azzopardi told CNN that the governor had changed his plans.

“Given the circumstances with Covid, he will have to work through Thanksgiving and will not be seeing them,” Azzopardi said.

Coronavirus task force calls for ‘significant behavior change of all Americans’

As vaccine trials continue, Redfield said it’s important to gather safety data on coronavirus vaccines in pregnant women and children.

“Obviously, it’s pretty normal that when we bring new products into humans, we really do spare pregnant women initially, but I can tell you that they’re going to be targeted to show safety and efficacy in that group very rapidly,” Redfield said during his Tuesday Fox News interview.

“I think you’re going to see that happen fairly rapidly, just like we’re going to see studies begin to look at the safety and immunogenicity in children too.”

Redfield said he is hopeful a coronavirus vaccine will be available for the general public by March.

The federal government has said 40 million coronavirus vaccine doses could be available by the end of December.

Even with that prospective timeline, the US Food and Drug Administration could take “days” to discuss issuing an emergency use authorization for a potential Covid-19 vaccine, said FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn.

A vaccine must go through the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC), who will all meet on December 10 to discuss Pfizer and BioNTech’s application for an emergency use authorization for their coronavirus vaccine.

“That committee … will send the FDA its comments and recommendations,” Hahn said. “Only then can the FDA make a final decision on a vaccine.”

Until the vaccines are distributed, the White House coronavirus task force is calling for “significant behavior change of all Americans.”

More aggressive testing efforts, the task force said, “must be combined with significant behavior change of all Americans.”

“Ensure masks at all times in public, increase physical distancing through significant reduction in capacity in public and private indoor spaces, and ensure every American understands the clear risks of ANY family or friend interactions outside of their immediate household indoors without masks,” the task force said in a series of November 22 reports obtained by CNN.

“If it’s good enough for LeBron, it should be good enough for the rest of the American people,” Giroir said

States must also flatten the curve ” to sustain the health system for both COVID and non-COVID emergencies,” the reports read.

The task force also encouraged states to make a plan for testing of university students.

“Ensure all universities returning in the winter move to mandatory weekly testing of all on and off campus students,” the reports read. “Planning for that must begin now.”