O coronavirus it has killed more than 400,000 people in the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Just over a month has passed since the death toll in the country reached 300,000, and health experts expect COVID-19 to kill half a million people in the U.S. sometime in February.
Last week, the global death toll spent 2 million, according to Johns Hopkins. The US leads the world in reported COVID-19 deaths.
President-elect Joe Bidenthe new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program on Sunday that the US is expected to reach half a million deaths in mid-February. “We have not yet seen the ramifications of what happened to vacation travel, with the vacation meeting in terms of high rates of hospitalizations and deaths after that,” said Walensky. “… I think we still have some dark weeks ahead.”
The latest gloomy milestone comes when President Trump prepares to step down and Biden takes charge of the federal government’s response to the public health crisis, as well as the economic. In the first week of 2021, about 965,000 Americans filed for unemployment assistance, according to the Ministry of Labor.
Mr. Biden wants Congress to approve a third round of relief payments and implement a series of initiatives to combat the impact of the pandemic, including increasing the federal minimum wage at $ 15 an hour. This occurs at a time when the Senate faces an unprecedented situation second impeachment trial for Mr. Trump in addition to confirmation hearings for nominees from Mr. Biden’s Office.
“This country is in the biggest economic crisis since the Depression, the biggest health crisis since the Spanish flu pandemic 100 years ago, and we must pass more relief to the American people,” said Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader. in “60 minutes” from CBS Domigo. “We must do all three, and we have to do all of them quickly. One cannot get in the way of the other.”
Mr. Biden also wishes to obtain 100 million Americans vaccinated the first 100 days in office. But for now, vaccines remain scarce. In Florida last weekend, Elizabeth Johnson, 68, lined up outside the Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in West Palm Beach before 7 am to have a shot at the vaccine.
“You can’t make an appointment, you can’t buy an appointment,” said Johnson. “So, what are we going to do? We’re going to bomb the lines just like we’re doing to take a chance.”
Governor Ron DeSantis is trying to recruit churches to reach Florida’s needy populations. Only about 5% of all doses went to blacks in Florida.
“We need a more robust plan,” said Patrick Franklin, president and CEO of Urban League of Palm Beach County. “We need more vaccination shots available at more locations. We need it every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week ”.
New vaccines may help supply and may soon arrive from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that these companies will soon have data ready to present to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization.
“We are weeks away, not months for sure,” said Fauci on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program.
Fauci also emphasized the urgency to vaccinate as many Americans as possible, especially as far as new virus variants continue to spread. While some may not cause more serious illnesses, the fact that they are more contagious is a serious threat.
“The more cases you have, the more hospitalizations you will have,” said Fauci, “and the more hospitalizations you have, the more deaths you will have.”
Carlos Barria / Reuters