| Hospitals in the U.S. are once again under strain from a resurgent coronavirus. At the same time, it looks like the pandemic could endure long after a vaccine becomes available. Covid-19 hospitalizations have risen at least 10% in the past week in 32 states and the nation's capital, as the month-old viral surge increasingly weighs on America's health-care system. Current hospitalizations soared 68% in New Mexico, 50% in Wyoming and 38% in Connecticut, among other notable increases, according to Covid Tracking Project data. South Dakota, Montana and North Dakota have the most current patients per capita, the data show.  A temporary hospital in the Austin Convention Center in Texas to handle overflow patients. Photographer: Sergio Flores/Bloomberg Nationally, current hospitalizations have climbed 37% to 42,917 in the past three weeks, after months of decline. But they are still about 28% lower than they were during July's Sun Belt surge, even as cases have risen to a record. Those trends are especially troubling given increasing expectations that the effects of the pandemic could linger for several more years. While the U.S. has committed more than $10 billion to develop new shots to fight Covid-19, about half of Americans say they are wary of taking them, according to a Gallup poll reported this month. Meanwhile, any shortfalls in the vaccine program could mean the country will struggle with the virus well into 2023, according to the London-based firm Airfinity Ltd. Overcoming the logistical, production and public-education challenges of immunizing 60% to 70% of national populations—the level the World Health Organization says is needed to achieve herd immunity—will be a time-consuming and troublesome process. The world will still need masks, social distancing, widespread testing and effective new therapies to keep the virus at bay, public-health specialists say. In the U.S., where the embrace of masks and distancing has been slow, the rollout of a vaccine could be accompanied by a crippling strain on the hospital system.—Timothy Annett | 
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