Original Title: Summary: The world‘s first confirmed and dead cases of the new crown in the United States, the epidemic situation is not optimistic
Xinhua News Agency, Washington, August 4th, by wire Summary: The world’s first confirmed and dead cases of the new crown in the United States, the situation is not optimistic
Xinhua News Agency reporter
The latest statistics released by Johns Hopkins University in the United States show that as of the afternoon of the 4th, the cumulative number of confirmed cases of new crowns worldwide has exceeded 200 million, and the cumulative number of deaths has exceeded 4.25 million. Among them, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the United States exceeds 35 million, and the cumulative number of deaths exceeds 600,000. The United States is the country with the largest cumulative number of confirmed cases and deaths of new crowns.
Due to the accelerated spread of the mutated new crown virus delta strain in the United States, coupled with the large differences in new crown vaccination rates among states, the prospects for the United States to fight the epidemic are still not optimistic.
The epidemic worsens
Recently, the core indicators of the new crown epidemic in the United States have rebounded severely. The weekly epidemic report released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on July 30 showed that the average number of confirmed cases, deaths, and hospitalizations of new crowns in the United States during the week increased by 64.1%, 33.3%, and 46.3% respectively from the previous week.
According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average daily increase in confirmed cases in the seven days as of the 30th is 72,493, which is also a new high since mid-February this year. The 7-day average daily increase in confirmed cases has been on the rise since mid-June.
Experts believe that the recent surge in new coronavirus cases in the United States is related to the accelerated spread of the highly infectious mutated new coronavirus delta strain, and many people still have not been vaccinated.
Chen Zhuo, associate professor of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the School of Public Health at the University of Georgia, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency on the 3rd that most of the infections were caused by the Delta strain, and most of them were not vaccinated. States with low vaccination rates are becoming new hot spots for the epidemic.
New epidemic data released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that in the last two weeks of July, Delta strain infections accounted for 93.4% of the new confirmed cases of new crowns in the United States.
A surge in hospitalized cases
With the spread of the delta strain, the number of hospitalized cases of COVID-19 in the United States has recently surged. Mississippi is one of the states with the lowest vaccination rate among all states in the United States. Currently, the number of new crown patients requiring hospitalization in this state has increased significantly.
According to data released by the Mississippi State Health Department on July 30, of the 827 intensive care beds in the state, only about 13% are currently available; all 88 intensive care beds at the University of Mississippi Medical Center are occupied.
Due to the surge in hospitalized cases of the new crown, a health center in Florida has stopped all non-emergency operations. Dr. Neil Finkler, chief clinical affairs officer of the health center, pointed out that more than 90% of the new crown patients currently hospitalized have not been vaccinated.
Masks make the return
Starting on July 31, the City of Washington re-implemented the mandatory mask order, requiring people aged two years and above to wear masks in indoor public places regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser also strongly recommended that people wear masks in densely populated open spaces.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on May 13 that it no longer recommends that people who have been vaccinated wear masks, but on July 27, they changed their mouths and recommended that those who have been vaccinated wear masks in indoor public places in areas with high transmission of the new crown virus; those who have not been vaccinated regardless of their bodies. In the United States, you must wear masks in indoor public places; elementary and middle school students must wear masks regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not.
The Washington Post quoted an internal document from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data showed that the Delta strain is highly infectious. “In view of the high infectivity and the current vaccine coverage (in the United States), the general wearing of masks is effective in curbing delta. The spread of strains is crucial”.
Call for vaccination
At present, the vaccination rates of various states in the United States show great differences. The White House’s Coordinator for the New Crown Epidemic, Jeffrey Zinz, said on the 2nd that the new cases were concentrated in areas with low vaccination rates. US health officials urge more Americans to get the new crown vaccine.
However, the United States has encountered resistance in promoting vaccination. A survey released by the Kaiser Family Foundation on the 4th showed that among the unvaccinated U.S. respondents, 53% believed that compared with the new coronavirus, vaccination poses a greater threat to health; Among the vaccinated respondents, 88% believed that infection with the new coronavirus is more harmful than vaccination. The report said that the difference in perceptions between vaccinated and non-vaccinated people helps explain why the promotion of vaccination in the United States is facing great controversy.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that currently about 93 million people in the United States who are eligible for the new crown vaccine have not been vaccinated, and as the spread of the mutant virus accelerates, these people may become quite large-scale “vulnerabilities.” group”. He worries that a stronger mutated new coronavirus may be produced in a large number of unvaccinated people, which will affect the effectiveness of existing vaccines.
Fauci said that the number of new cases in the United States in a single day may rise to between 100,000 and 200,000 cases per day. He said that the number of cases caused by the delta strain is “rapidly increasing” across the United States. Unless most of the unvaccinated Americans take action and choose to be vaccinated, the United States may be “in trouble” this fall.
“If we are unable to vaccinate the vast majority of people, the virus will continue to lurch from autumn to winter, and it will have ample opportunity to mutate,” Fauci said. (Notewriter: Feng Yujing; Participating reporters: Yang Shilong, Zhang Mocheng, Wang Zhao)
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