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Video: The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States marked another grim milestone, with confirmed cases exceeding 25 million. Why has America’s workload continued to skyrocket? (Xinhua)
In his first week in office, Biden released a detailed new pandemic strategy, pledged to step up testing, vaccinations, supplies and treatment, and mandatory masks on federal lands and in travel interstate by train, bus and plane.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) – A year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States is still waging a brutal battle against the virus as the total number of infections surpassed 25 million on Sunday.
COVID-19 cases in the United States rose to 25.1 million with more than 491,000 deaths as of Sunday evening, according to a count from Johns Hopkins University.
It took the country just over a year to reach the grim milestone of 25 million infections. The first U.S. case of COVID-19 was reported in Washington state last January.
Health experts have attributed the US inability to control the virus to political polarization, rejection of science and the lack of a national strategy under the Trump administration.
The 25 million mark came as President Joe Biden introduced new measures to bring the pandemic under control.
In his first week in office, Biden released a detailed new pandemic strategy, pledged to step up testing, vaccinations, supplies and treatment, and mandatory masks on federal lands and in travel interstate by train, bus and plane.
A man wearing a mask visits the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, the United States, Jan.23, 2021 (Xinhua / Liu Jie)
Stanley Perlman, professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa, told Xinhua on Sunday that Biden’s plan would help better control the virus.
“I think they will help. Just having a president who believes in the severity of the pandemic will help,” Perlman said.
The surge in infections has further heightened the urgency of a faster and more effective vaccination campaign in the country.
The Trump administration has failed to meet its goal of vaccinating 20 million Americans by the end of 2020.
Biden’s nationwide immunization campaign aims to deliver 100 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine in two stages during its first 100 days.
“I think 100 million doses are achievable, but require increased manufacturing and, more importantly, increased assistance to local and state governments to enable efficient vaccine distribution,” Perlman said.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease specialist, said on Sunday that Biden’s goal of 100 million doses in 100 days is not a definitive figure.
Healthcare workers work in an intensive care unit in the “COVID zone” of Beverly Hospital in Montebello City, California, United States, January 22, 2021. (Xinhua)
“It’s really a floor and not a ceiling,” Fauci told CBS “https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/“ Face The Nation. “Https://news.google.com/ __i / rss / rd / articles /” This is going to be a challenge. I think it was a reasonable target that had been set. We always want to do better than the goal you set for yourself. “
However, a new model developed by scientists at Columbia University shows that “vaccines alone are not enough,” a New York Times report said on Sunday.
“The coronavirus pandemic in the United States has been raging almost uncontrollably for so long that even though millions of people are vaccinated, millions more will still be infected and get sick unless people continue to wear masks and to maintain social distancing measures until mid-summer or later, “says the report titled” Why Vaccines Alone Won’t End the Pandemic “.
Moreover, the spread of a more infectious variant of the virus in the United States could make matters worse.
The new variant, first identified in Britain, has been detected in at least 22 U.S. states, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.
A model developed by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington shows that the United States is expected to register more than 566,000 COVID-19-related deaths by May 1.
Taking into account several scenarios based on masking warrants, vaccine distribution and other behavioral changes, the model predicts that deaths in the country will not start to stabilize until the beginning of March. ■
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