The latest statistics released by Johns Hopkins University in the United States show that the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States has exceeded 17 million; and the number of deaths exceeds 310,000, which exceeds the number of people killed in the United States in combat during World War II.
In the past week, the United States has died of COVID-19 every 40 seconds on average. Under such circumstances, can the United States survive this darkest winter? Can a vaccine with high expectations bring miracles? I’m afraid the outlook is not optimistic.
New problems caused by vaccines
The first vaccinations in the United States began this week. What should have been hopeful has led to new doubts and fears due to disappointment and distrust of the long-standing inaction of the U.S. government. The New York Times previously reported that the arrival of vaccines will deepen the division and contradictions in American society.
The New York Times’ prediction is not wrong. First of all, the issue of vaccination priorities has caused widespread controversy in American society.
Senior government officials, including US President Trump, health workers and nursing home residents are ranked in the priority vaccination level, according to the recommendations of U.S. public health officials and national security personnel. However, the public believes that educators, firefighters, postal workers, public transport drivers, etc. should have the right to give priority to vaccination than some unimportant government workers. There are also elderly residents of nursing homes who question that the nurses who come into close contact with them are not within the priority vaccination range, and the government is obviously not well-considered.
Second, the public is not confident about the safety of the vaccine. Because the current vaccine in the United States is “emergency authorized use” and has not collected all the required safety data, many people are waiting for major side effects of the vaccine.
On the 15th and 16th, two medical staff in Alaska were severely allergic after being vaccinated against the coronavirus vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and the German biotechnology company. Successive reports of allergic reactions have also increased people’s doubts.
Third, it is also a question whether the number of vaccines can keep up. The Associated Press reported that only 2.9 million doses of vaccine were received in the United States this week. Although the White House hopes that the number of vaccines will be enough to reach 20 million people by the end of this month, more ordinary Americans will wait until next spring as soon as possible.
In addition to the insufficient number of vaccines, Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey said recently that more funds and confidence are needed to advance vaccination efforts.
Bob Casey: “I think we need to do at least two things: First, more funds are available for state and local governments to distribute vaccines and carry out unprecedented mass vaccination efforts. Need help doing these jobs. We also need to instill confidence in the public about vaccines.”
Can a vaccine with high hopes become a miracle to reverse the epidemic in the United States?
Modeling analysis from the University of Washington Institute of Health Indicators and Evaluation shows that the total number of deaths in the United States may also reach 530,000 by April 1 next year, even if a vaccine is used.
Anti-sapiens continue to play against epidemic prevention.
Since vaccination cannot bring an anti-epidemic miracle in the short term, it is essential to strictly follow up on various epidemic prevention measures.
Swaminatan, the chief scientist of WHO, reminded that although the vaccine can effectively prevent the disease, there is no evidence that the vaccine can avoid human infection with the virus. Because the number of vaccinated people is very small at the beginning, it will take a period of time to reach herd immunity, so people who have been vaccinated will continue to take preventive measures.
△ Swaminatan, Chief Scientist of WHO
However, there are still a large number of officials and people across the United States who ignore the risk. Recently, a report by the online media Interception pointed out that although curfews have been imposed again across the United States, some large enterprises have lobbied politicians to protect themselves from epidemic prevention measures.
According to U.S. media reports, the recent Christmas celebration in Ludovisi, Georgia, put more than 50 children who hugged and photographed two “Santa Claus” at risk of infection. Despite widespread parental distroubling, instead of immediately organizing testing for their children, local officials claimed there was no need to panic. Since then, local officials have received a large number of letters from all over the United States, severely accusing them of holding large-scale gatherings regardless of the epidemic and affecting children.
According to the latest report jointly released by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, nearly 1.64 million children in the United States have been diagnosed with infection, accounting for 2% of the total number of children in the United States. In addition, nearly 180,000 new confirmed cases of children in the week ended December 10, the highest single week since the outbreak.
In terms of complying with epidemic prevention measures, politicians who should play an exemplary role are still the same.
First Lady Melania of the United States visited a children’s hospital to read for two sick children without complying with epidemic prevention regulations. And the hospital’s policy clearly requires all visitors to wear masks.
△Melania, the first lady of the United States, did not comply with the epidemic prevention regulations when visiting the children’s hospital.
On the 16th local time, U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo went into quarantine after contact with a person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus. It is not clear when and where he came into contact with the COVID-19 patient.
What’s more absurd is that CNN reported that while the epidemic continues to get out of control in the United States, the outgoing Trump administration has launched a “holiday party season”, ignoring not only the restrictions on the size of the gatherings of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but also the epidemic prevention requirements in Washington, D.C., the capital.
Anti-intelligent wave breaks the hope of fighting the epidemic.
Under the negative demonstration of political figures, folk anti-intellectual emotions rise one after another.
Hundreds of people protested against public health restrictions in Mosirock, Washington, last weekend, according to U.S. media reports. Kansas Dodge Mayor Warshaw was forced to announce his resignation after being threatened by some citizens after publicly supporting the mask injunction.
Local public health officials fighting on the front line were also involuntarily involved in the anti-intellectual storm: on the one hand, they had to fight against the virus, but on the other hand, they became the public’s ventilator. Under physical and mental fatigue, the United States has witnessed the largest wave of public health officials leaving in history.
Associated Press reports show that since April 1, at least 181 state and local public health heads have resigned, retired or been fired in 38 states. There are now 40 million Americans, or about 1 in 8 Americans, living in communities that “lost local public health leadership”.
Experts warn that the epidemic may continue to worsen as the Christmas holiday approaches.
Dr. Mark Galli, director of California Public Health, said there will be overcrowding in hospitals in the coming weeks.
Mark Galli: “If we looked at what happened two weeks ago, with an average of more than 15,000 cases per day, we looked at now, with 30,000 new cases and more per day. These numbers indicate that in the next few weeks, the situation our hospital will face is that more people will be crowded to the door of the emergency room, and the number of people who need hospitalization and even ICU beds may increase.”
According to ABC, California has purchased additional body bags and freezers in response to the rising number of COVID-19 deaths.
California Governor Newsom said they were prepared for worse.
Newsom: “We must pay attention to the lethality of the coronavirus pandemic. We have customized 60 53-foot refrigerators and distributed them to various hospitals. We also ordered an additional 5,000 body bags and distributed them to San Diego, Los Angeles and other places. This is what we just did.
Intensive Care Director at Houston United Memorial Medical Center told NPR that he had been working for 272 consecutive days without interruption. He was desperate that people were relaxing their guard because he feared that the number of infections might surge after Christmas. He cautioned that it would be necessary to have a Christmas that was fully equipped with the virus, or it would probably welcome the New Year in the intensive care unit.
