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COVID-19 To Remain ‘a Fact of Life’ in the United States

  • A mobile COVID-19 testing site, New York, U.S., Aug. 31, 2021.

    A mobile COVID-19 testing site, New York, U.S., Aug. 31, 2021. | Photo: Xinhua

Published 7 September 2021
Opinion

Since the onset of the pandemic, nearly 4.8 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 in the U.S., according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

On Monday, the U.S. COVID-19 caseload reached 40,016,654 with a death toll of 649,426. To date, the states with the highest number of infections are California (4.4 million), Texas (3.7 million), and Florida (3.3 million).

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The U.S. remains the nation worst hit by the pandemic, making up over 18 percent of the global caseload and nearly 14 percent of the global deaths. The staggering 40 million milestone came as weary Americans spent their second Labor Day into the pandemic. Daily COVID-19 infections are more than four times what the United States was seeing on Labor Day last year, or a 316 percent increase.

The current seven-day moving average is 153,246, which was 123.6 percent higher than the figure observed approximately one year ago and 1,217.0 percent higher than the lowest record in June 18, 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

On Aug. 25-1, the seven-day daily average of new hospital admissions was 12,156, up 1.7 percent from the previous week. The seven-day moving average of new deaths was 1,047, an increase of 3.7 percent compared with the previous average.

DEBATES OVER MASKS AND VACCINES

The fourth surge of the pandemic in has been largely attributed to the Delta variant and millions of citizens who refuse to get vaccinated, though the U.S. has stockpiled tens of millions of doses. The vaccine, as well as other precautions such as mask wearing, have been politicized across the country, particularly in Texas and Florida.

Many people in the South and rural areas nationwide argue that constitutional freedoms far outweigh health concerns. Polls also show those who decline the jab fear its possible side effects more than the virus itself, which have been fueled by unproven stories about the vaccine on social media.

As of Saturday, nevertheless, 53 percent of the U.S. population had been fully vaccinated. Masks are recommended in schools by the CDC, yet Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott have banned mask mandates in schools. Noticeably, in quite a few states, many lawsuits have been filed either for or against masks in schools.

Nearly 4.8 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Aug. 26, since the onset of the pandemic in the United States, according to a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association.

UNFORESEEABLE FUTURE

"It seems the narrow window to wipe the coronavirus completely off the face of the globe has slipped through our unvaccinated fingers. There will be no quick and clear turning point ahead in the COVID-19 pandemic," said Politico on Monday in a report titled "Why We Can't Turn the Corner on COVID".

"A summer that began with plunging caseloads and real hope that the worst of COVID-19 had passed is ending with soaring death counts, full hospitals and a bitter realization that the coronavirus is going to remain a fact of American life for the foreseeable future," said New York Times on Sunday.

Things just became much harder for millions of people who are out-of-work across the United States, as enhanced federal unemployment insurance put in place during the pandemic ended on Monday. That means some 9 million people will lose all benefits and another 3 million will see weekly checks reduced by US$300.

Meanwhile, the timeline of the pandemic reached the United States was rewritten after a Kansas woman who died in early January 2020 is now listed as the first known person to die with COVID-19 in the country. Three months ago, the woman's doctor quietly added "COVID-19 pneumonia" as one of the causes of her death, reported The Mercury News on Thursday. Her original death certificate said she'd died only from a stroke and chronic obstructive lung disease.

Her death is now included in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's official record of U.S. COVID deaths. Previously, the first known COVID-19 death in the United States was thought to have occurred on Feb. 6, 2020, in a woman living in San Jose, California.

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U.S. COVID-19
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