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The United States exceeded 200,000 deaths from covid-19 on Tuesday, a new grim milestone six weeks after the country decides whether to renew the term of President Donald Trump, widely criticized for his handling of the pandemic.
Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University, which keeps the baseline count, reported that 200,182 Americans have died and 6.86 million have been infected with the new coronavirus.
(Also read: Trump promises vaccines for all Americans in April)
With 4% of the world population, The United States accounts for 20% of its registered deaths from covid-19 since the appearance of the virus in China at the end of last year.
In contrast to other events in which US citizens have died, deaths from Covid-19 have already exceeded the figures recorded in various war conflicts in which this country participated.
According to the Department for Veterans Affairs, 116,516 Americans died in World War I; in the Vietnam War, 58,220; in Korea, 36,574; in the attacks of September 11, 2,977, and in the invasions that were fought after those attacks in New York, –such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan–, more than 7,000 soldiers.
This means that (and keeping the right proportions of gravity between the events) the coronavirus has been more deadly than the First World War and the Vietnam War combined, for example.
The North American country has had the highest official death toll in the world for months, ahead of Brazil and India, with 137,272 and 88,935 deaths, respectively.
Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said that covid-19 “will be the third leading cause of death this year in the United States, more than accidents, strokes or Alzheimer’s. “.
“We underestimate this virus at our risk and that of those who are affected by our decisions.”he tweeted. Only cancers and cardiovascular diseases are likely to be responsible for more deaths than COVID-19 in the United States in 2020, even if the actual impact of the virus is underestimated due to the lack of evidence at the beginning of the pandemic.
According to official sources, in the last seven days, around 5,300 people have died of coronavirus in the United States. At least 6,000 patients are hospitalized in an intensive care unit and 1,500 need artificial ventilators.
We underestimate this virus at our risk and that of those affected by our decisions
According to official sources, in the last seven days, around 5,300 people have died of coronavirus in the United States.
‘We will defeat the virus’
Trump, lagging behind in the polls for the November 3 elections against Democrat Joe Biden, insists that his management of the pandemic is successful and is betting on the approval of a vaccine at the end of October.
“We launched the most aggressive mobilization since World War II”he told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. “We will distribute a vaccine, defeat the virus, end the pandemic and enter a new era of unprecedented prosperity, cooperation and peace,” he promised.
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However, the number of doses of a possible vaccine will be very limited in the first few months. Before the second quarter of 2021, when in theory sufficient doses will have been manufactured to immunize 330 million Americans, several tens or hundreds of thousands of Americans could still die.
In many cities, students have virtually returned to school, the indoor areas of bars and restaurants remain closed, and the use of masks has increased.
But outbreaks remain, currently in the Midwest and on college campuses that have returned to face-to-face classes. “It hardly affects almost anyone “Trump claimed Monday during an election rally. “It affects the elderly, those with heart problems and others,” he said, without a word of compassion for the deaths.
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In California (photo) they pushed back the reopening due to the rebound in cases in recent days.
‘Incompetence’
But critics say the statistics expose the failure of the Trump administration.
“The United States has paid a higher price than any other country in the world”Biden said Monday, lamenting the “lies” and “incompetence” of the republican president.
(Read here: Trump believes in a vaccine for October and contradicts health expert)
Trump publicly downplayed the severity of the pandemic early on, hiding from Americans in February that he knew the virus was airborne and more dangerous than the flu, according to interviews for journalist Bob Woodward’s new book.
His government stopped a plan for the general distribution of masks prepared by the Post Office and forced the CDC to soften its instructions to encourage a return to normalcy.
Trump is accused of confusing the population by not taking action at the national level. “We needed a unified, coherent and strong national response,” William Schaffner, professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University, told AFP.
The CDC, the nation’s top health agency, said on Friday that the coronavirus was transmitted primarily by “respiratory droplets or small particles, such as aerosols, that are produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, speaks or breathes”.
The United States has paid a higher price than any other country in the world
The hypothesis of transmission by droplets that remain in the air for minutes or hours, supported by a growing number of studies, has so far not been recognized as primary by experts at the CDC or the World Health Organization.
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But on Monday, the CDC site withdrew the text, arguing that it had been published. “by mistake”.
AFP
