'The darkest days in modern American medical history' are coming after Thanksgiving: doctors

Doctors around the country are warning about a medical nightmare that they expect to hit after Thanksgiving as novel coronavirus infections are projected to surge to new highs.

Dr. Joseph Varon, the chief of staff at Houston's United Memorial Medical Center, told CNN that he fears the American medical system cannot handle another massive influx of COVID-19 patients that he expects to come throughout the holiday season.

"My concerns for the next six to 12 weeks is that if we don't do things right, America is going to see the darkest days in modern American medical history," he said. "My hospital is full. I just opened two new wings so that I can accommodate for the next few days, because I know that a lot of people are going to get sick after Thanksgiving."

Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, similarly told CNN that he fears the holiday season will have a cascading effect that will crush American hospitals.

"I worry that the Thanksgiving Day surge will then just add into what will become the Christmas surge, which will then make this one seem as if it wasn't so bad," he said. "We have to understand we're in a very dangerous place. People have to stop swapping air."