‘Tragic and completely preventable’: the United States kills 700,000 from Covid-19 | Coronavirus

In recent months, the overwhelming majority of people who have died from Covid were not vaccinated. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study published last month found that after the Delta variant became the most common variant in the United States over the summer, unvaccinated Americans were 10 times more likely to be hospitalized and die from the virus. compared to vaccinated Americans.

Recent deaths have mostly occurred in southern states that have lagging vaccination rates, including Florida, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Nationally, about 65% of people aged 12 and older eligible to receive the vaccine have been fully immunized, according to the CDC.

With a slight majority of the population fully vaccinated, the death rate from Covid has dropped significantly compared to the death rate in previous outbreaks of the virus, when the vaccine was not available. Following the increase in cases observed last winter, 100,000 people died over a 34-day period between January and February. Comparatively, it took more than three months for the United States to register 100,000 more deaths this summer.

Public health experts attribute the slowing death rate to the vaccine’s effectiveness, but say the step could have been avoided entirely with a higher vaccination rate.

“Reaching 700,000 deaths is a tragic and completely preventable step. We had the knowledge and the tools to prevent that from happening, and sadly, politics, a lack of urgency and a distrust of science brought us here, ”John Brownstein, epidemiologist at the Boston Children’s Hospital.

Experts hope hospitalizations and deaths will decrease as the increase in cases due to the Delta variant appears to diminish and vaccination mandates begin to roll out.

Without a winter push, which experts say is still possible, statistical modeling has shown that Covid-19 cases may continue to decline until 2022, bringing much-needed relief to hospital systems across the country that have been overwhelmed by Covid-19 cases.

A rural Washington state hospital still faces a surge in patients, with 15 of its 20 intensive care unit beds occupied by Covid patients. The hospital has had to delay more than two dozen heart surgeries due to its shortage of intensive care beds.

“We have a backup of about 30 cases that need to be treated,” Jackie Whited, director of intensive care at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee, Washington, told the Seattle Times. “I don’t have a bed, I will have a clean bed in the intensive care unit.”

In an effort to get more people immunized, immunization mandates have been rolled out across the country, with some success.

Major California healthcare systems, where healthcare workers have had to be vaccinated, have reported increased vaccination rates among staff members. New York, which has a similar mandate, has seen similar results with thousands of healthcare workers getting vaccinated before the state’s vaccination deadline.