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PVC Patient Exam Gloves are manufactured in Jiangsu Province for export to the United States. XU HUI / FOR CHINA DAILY
Despite its advanced medical research and health care system, the United States has led the world in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
The country is now in the grip of the “third wave” of the pandemic, one that is much larger than the previous two and has hit the Midwest harder.
The death toll is expected to continue to rise, driven by travel during the Christmas and New Year holidays and neglect of wearing masks and other precautions.
Masks are seen globally as a key tool to contain COVID-19. In many other countries, mask mandates are becoming the norm, but the mask debate continues in the United States.
Top US health officials first told people they shouldn’t wear masks and then changed their orientation. Public health experts have emphasized the importance of wearing masks, which US President Donald Trump has not fully supported.
Trump has long been reluctant to wear a mask in public. He has also refused to introduce a national mandate, saying he wants people to have “some freedom.”
Critics said the mask’s mandate in religious settings violated the free exercise of religion. The Supreme Court, with a strong 6-3 conservative majority, has sided with religious groups against COVID-19-related restrictions in New York, Colorado and New Jersey.
Controversy mask
Tensions over mask requirements have sparked violence in some states. A security guard at a Michigan store was shot and killed by a customer whose family was told they had to wear masks to enter the store.
Protests against the masks have continued across the country for months.
Local health officials in California, South Dakota, and other states were harassed and threatened for issuing mask mandates. Some cities had to reverse their mask orders or abruptly ended public health meetings under pressure from anti-mask protests.
State and local governments have varied widely in the implementation of the mask rules. California was the first to mandate a statewide mask mandate in June, and many states followed suit.
There are still 12 states, although no mask requirements statewide, such as Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, and South Dakota.
The Trump administration has been criticized for its inadequate response to the pandemic. The president himself repeatedly downplayed the virus and often contradicted public health experts in his dire warnings about the disease.
Experts said that the politicization of the pandemic is the reason behind people’s resistance to public health measures such as wearing masks.
The misinformation also leads many US citizens to believe that COVID-19 is “a hoax” or “just another flu.” Some patients dying from COVID-19 still believe the illness is not real, said several nurses who took to social media to express their frustration.
Another way to politicize the coronavirus is the administration’s interference with scientific institutions.
“From day one, this has been more political than any other pandemic I’ve ever been involved in,” Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University, said in an interview with National Public Radio.
Trump and his Republican allies also used the terms “China virus” or “kung flu” in public speeches and demonstrations, a strategy that critics say was used to blame the pandemic on China. As a result, Asian Americans have experienced increasing racism related to COVID-19.
Nine months after the WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, the global effort to create a safe and effective vaccine is beginning to bear fruit.
Following the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine, the US Food and Drug Administration has licensed another vaccine developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health.
Up to 40 million doses could be given before the end of the year, enough to vaccinate those in the designated highest priority group, high-risk healthcare workers, and residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities. .
With total government orders for 300 million doses, 150 million US citizens are expected to be vaccinated by mid-2021.
But only half say they want to get vaccinated, while about a quarter don’t and the rest aren’t sure, according to a recent survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Health Research.
