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December begins in the United States with shocking crown numbers. There are new doubts about the success of rapid vaccination. And a fatal increase that experts expect is yet to come.
When Donald Trump and Joe Biden dueled on the campaign trail, they offered their people very different predictions about the Corona winter in America.
Trump said Corona will suddenly no longer be a problem as of Nov. 4, the day after the election. Tenor: The media only exaggerates the subject to damage it.
Joe Biden, for his part, took a drastic picture in the television duel with Trump: The nation was facing a “dark winter,” Biden warned in late October.
By early December it is clear who was right. One million new infections were recorded in the United States in the first five days of December alone. And in the first six days of December alone, there are as many cases as in Germany in the whole of 2020. In addition to new infections, hospital admissions and deaths have also reached record levels.
The “main push” is yet to come
On average over the past week, 100,000 Covid patients were in the hospital every day, and more than 2,000 Americans died of Covid every day, despite better therapies and preventive measures than in the spring. This shows how wide and strong the virus is currently spreading.
America is alone at the beginning of the dark winter. Experts like Anthony Fauci anticipate a drastic tightening in the coming days. “We are seeing this staggering number of new cases and deliveries before we even feel the main thrust on Thanksgiving,” the chief infectious disease specialist said Monday.
Immunologist Anthony Fauci: “Mid-January could be a ‘very dark time’ in the US (Source: Susan Walsh / dpa)
By Thanksgiving on November 26, which is so important in the United States, millions of Americans ignored the warnings and traveled with their families by plane.
It gets much worse before it can get better
Hope for vaccines is great, even if somewhat clouded by new developments. But it is already clear: in the United States it will get much worse before it can improve.
The Trump administration had refused to implement an effective national strategy against the spread of the coronavirus: it left the decisions to the states, while Trump himself repeatedly encouraged his supporters to protest against the blocking measures of the Democratic governors.
The current corona wave is particularly dramatic in the Midwestern states, but large parts of the country are colored bright red in charts showing the infection rate. There is a dark red alert.
One of the few states that has now decided to crack down is California, where hospitals in some places are on the edge. Since Monday morning, a three-week lockdown has been in effect for some 20 million residents in the south of the state.
Closure and resistance in California
Citizens are prohibited from meeting with members of other households, hairdressers and bars must remain closed, restaurants can only offer take away meals. The governor’s order provokes strong protests; even some county sheriffs have announced that they will not implement Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s rules.
Meanwhile, sparsely populated South Dakota has the highest death rates. The governor there, a close ally of Trump, has refrained from implementing measures against the virus. In general, few Americans in rural areas follow the distance rules or the requirement to wear mouth and nose protection.
President Trump himself used his tweets and appearances during Corona’s renewed escalation primarily to attack the outcome of the presidential election. You haven’t talked about Corona for a long time, and if so, you need to focus on vaccines.
The launch of the first vaccine is approaching
On Tuesday he wants to celebrate the upcoming approval of the first active ingredients at the White House. The pharmaceutical agency could approve the vaccine from the US company Pfizer and the German company Biontech this week.
According to the White House, 20 million Americans will receive the first of two doses of the vaccine in December. That would cover a large portion of the two highest priority groups, health workers and nursing home residents.
But there are still big questions about the procedure. According to media reports, the United States government also failed to secure more vaccine tranches after the initial order of 100 million doses. Pfizer has informed the White House that the United States will have to wait until the summer to obtain supplies.
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According to experts, the pandemic cannot be stopped until three-quarters of Americans are vaccinated. If and when this threshold will be reached is written in the stars. There is great skepticism about the vaccine, especially among black Americans, and they are particularly affected by Covid.
Biden tries to convince Americans to wear masks
So other containment measures are even more important. Joe Biden has already announced that after taking office he will call on all citizens to wear masks for a hundred days. “I think then we will feel a significant decrease,” the Democrat said in an interview with CNN.
But even if the Americans follow the new president, there are still six weeks left before he takes office. Thanksgiving and Christmas effects could be in full effect by then.
Without clear countermeasures, “mid-January could be a very dark time for us,” warned White House adviser Fauci, whose advice has been ignored by Trump for months. Biden wants to bring him to his side as chief medical adviser.
Robert Redfield, director of the United States Department of Health, CDC, called the winter months “the most difficult time in the history of public health for this nation.” His authority assumes that 300,000 Americans will have died of Covid before Christmas.
Collaboration / Graphics: Laura Stresing
