Amidst the Delta variant rampage, US refuses the lockdown, which might make the situation worse.
According to the recent analysis, the average number of new coronavirus cases reported in the US has nearly doubled over the past ten days.
The average daily COVID-19 infections reached a new record high of 100,000, the highest daily infection number in six months, amid the Delta variant rampage.
This pointed out to repeat the nightmare of the country’s failures in fighting the coronavirus with the highest confirmed cases and the death toll in the world over the past year.
The worst is yet to come!
Epidemiologists and experts warn that things will worsen. The Biden administration fails to draw lessons from past failures in controlling COVID-19 and has missed several opportunities to contain the virus spread by putting politics above science.
Also, Anthony Fauci, the White House chief medical advisor, recently warned that the US could see up to 200,000 daily COVID-19 cases, considering the increase in the virus’ transmissibility and the largely unvaccinated population, reported the US political news site The Hill.
No more lockdowns in the US
“An adequate percentage of Americans have now been vaccinated to avoid lockdowns”, says Dr Anthony Fauci, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director.
The United States expects no lockdown again to curb COVID-19, even though things worsen as the Delta variant fuels a surge in cases, mainly among the unvaccinated.
He added that we have 100 million people in this country who are eligible to be vaccinated but are not getting vaccinated.
While vaccines remain inadequate in much of the world, in the US, they are freely available for people 12 years or older, where cash prizes, new cars and other incentives fail to motivate a third of the population to get immunized.
The spread of the Delta variant could still threaten the economy, even if states do not resort to lockdowns again.
Steps that went wrong
The latest upturn was partly due to the lift of mask guidelines announced a few months ago following the mass vaccination, as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sought to encourage people to get vaccinated that fully vaccinated people no longer had to wear masks.
Chen Xi, an assistant professor of public health at Yale University, said that the revised guidelines led to a new surge as the Delta variant could spread as quickly as chickenpox with a much higher viral load, especially in the south of the US meagre vaccination rates.
“It just makes common sense in a community where the virus is spreading, and that’s pretty much all of Florida right now, to do everything you can to prevent that, which includes mask wearing for kids in schools,” says the Director of National Institutes of Health Francis Collins.
According to US media reports, local hospitals have been bracing for another round of increased patient numbers in southern states such as Florida and Texas.
Some places were overwhelmed by admission surges, and ICU facilities stretched once again.
“I think we have to realize this as a new appearance of the pandemic, or a pandemic 2.0 version radically different from before,” US epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding, told in a recent interview.
Necessary measures to be adopted
More profound measures are needed to contain the virus spread, noting that mandating premium masks for the general public, air ventilation, and disinfection are all part of the necessary steps required to overcome the resurgence.
The fully vaccinated people and children should wear masks indoors for a minimal amount of transmission.
The US should have learnt from the past lessons rather than put more focus on politicizing the epidemic while continuing to smear China by taking experiences from other countries that are also combating the Delta variant.
For example, in China, where the acceleration of mass vaccination and rigorous prevention measures are still proving effective in fending off the virus, some observers said.
The gush in Delta variant cases is also rattling around the globe. Parts of Asia, such as the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam that were previously relatively successful in containing Covid-19, are now shutting down hot spots.
Some are pushing back against new restrictions. In Australia’s biggest city Sydney, unarmed soldiers are helping police check that people who have tested positive are isolating.
