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The first known U.S. case of a highly infectious variant of the coronavirus was detected today in Colorado, and President-elect Joe Biden says it can take years for most Americans to get vaccinated.
Photo: AFP
Those events occurred on the same day that it was announced that the elected representative of the United States, Luke Letlow, of Louisiana, died of Covid-19.
Letlow, 41, announced on December 18 that he had tested positive for the new coronavirus.
“It is with great regret that @FirstLadyOfLA and I offer our condolences to the family of Congressman-elect Luke Letlow on his passing after a battle with COVID-19,” said Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards on Twitter.
Letlow, a Republican, won a runoff Dec. 5 for the fifth district seat, which represents northeast and central Louisiana, and was due to be sworn in Sunday.
Biden’s prediction of a bleak winter appeared to be aimed at lowering public expectations that the pandemic will end shortly after he takes office on January 20, while also sending a message to Congress that his new administration wants to significantly increase the spending to accelerate vaccine distribution, expand testing. and provide funds to states to help reopen schools.
Biden, a Democrat, said about 2 million people had been vaccinated, well short of the 20 million that outgoing Republican President Donald Trump had promised by the end of the year. Biden defeated Trump in the November elections.
“As I feared and warned for a long time, the effort to distribute and administer the vaccine is not progressing as it should,” said the Democrat.
“It’s going to take years, not months, [at the current rate] to vaccinate the American people, “said Biden in Wilmington, Delaware.
Shortly after his comments, Colorado Governor Jared Polis announced on Twitter that his state had discovered a case of a highly infectious variant of coronavirus B117, which was first detected in the UK.
Biden’s goal of ensuring 100 million shots are delivered by the end of his 100th day in office would mean “increasing the current rate five to six times to 1 million shots per day,” Biden said, noting that it would require the Congress will approve it. additional financing.
“Even with that improvement, even if we increase the rate of vaccines to 1 million injections per day, it will still take months for the majority of the US population to be vaccinated,” he said.
He predicted that the situation might not improve until “well into March.”
Biden also said he planned to invoke the Defense Production Act, which gives the president the power to expand industrial production of key materials or products for national security or other reasons, to speed up the manufacture of materials needed for the vaccine.
Trump himself has invoked the law during the pandemic.
To reopen schools safely, Biden said Congress would need to provide funding for things like additional transportation so students can maintain social distancing and better ventilation in school buildings.
Congress also needed help to make Covid-19 testing more easily available and to help pay for protective equipment for healthcare workers, Biden added.
Earlier in the day, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris received a Covid-19 vaccine live on television in an attempt to boost confidence in the inoculation, even as she warned it would be months before it would be available to everyone.
-Reuters
