December begins in America with shocking corona numbers. There are new doubts about quick vaccination successes. And a fatal increase that experts expect is still to come.
When Donald Trump and Joe Biden dueled each other in the election campaign, they offered their people very different predictions about the Corona winter in the USA.
Trump said Corona will suddenly no longer be an issue from November 4, the day after the election. Tenor: The media only exaggerate the issue in order to harm it.
Joe Biden, on the other hand, took a drastic picture in the TV duel with Trump: The nation was facing a “dark winter,” warned Biden at the end of October.
At the beginning of December it is clear who was right. One million new infections were registered 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 there were in Germany in 2020 as a whole. In addition to new infections, hospital admissions and deaths have also reached record levels.
The “main thrust” is yet to come
On average over the past week, 100,000 Covid patients were in 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 only at the beginning of the dark winter. Experts like Anthony Fauci anticipate a drastic tightening in the coming days. “We are seeing these staggering numbers of new cases and deliveries before we even feel the main thrust from Thanksgiving,” said the top infectiologist on Monday.
Immunologist Anthony Fauci: “Mid-January could be a” very dark time “in the USA. (Source: Susan Walsh / dpa)
For Thanksgiving on November 26, which is so important in America, millions of Americans ignored the warnings and traveled to their families by plane.
It gets a lot worse before it can get better
The hope for the vaccines is great, even if it is somewhat clouded by new developments. But it is already clear: In the USA it will get a lot worse before it can get better.
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 lockdown measures by Democratic governors.
The current corona wave is particularly drastic in the states of the Midwest, but large parts of the country are colored deep red in the charts showing the infection rate. There is a dark red alert.
One of the few states that has now decided to take tough measures is California, where hospitals in some places are at the limit. A three-week lockdown has been in effect since Monday morning for a good 20 million residents in the south of the state.
Lockdown and Resistance in California
Citizens are prohibited from meeting members of other households, hairdressers and bars must remain closed, restaurants are only allowed to offer take-away meals. The governor’s order provokes strong protest – even sheriffs in some counties have announced that they will not implement the rules of the democratic governor Gavin Newsom.
Meanwhile, the 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 distance rules or the requirement to wear mouth and nose protection.
President Trump himself used his tweets and appearances during the recent corona escalation mainly to attack the result of the presidential election. He has not spoken about Corona for a long time – and if so, then to focus on vaccines.
The first vaccine release is approaching
On Tuesday he wants to celebrate the approaching approval of the first active ingredients in the White House. The drug agency could release the vaccine from US company Pfizer and German company Biontech this week.
According to the White House, 20 million Americans will receive the first of the two vaccine doses in December. That would cover a large portion of the two top priority groups, health workers and retirement home residents.
But there are still big question marks about the procedure. According to media reports, the US government has also failed to secure further vaccine tranches after the initial order of 100 million doses. Pfizer has now informed the White House that the US will have to wait for supplies until the summer.
Are you interested in US politics? Washington correspondent Fabian Reinbold writes a newsletter about his work in the White House, his impressions from the USA and the transition from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. Here you can subscribe to the “Post from Washington” free of chargewhich then lands directly in your mailbox once a week.
According to experts, the pandemic cannot be stopped until three-quarters of Americans are vaccinated. Whether 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 badly affected by Covid.
Biden tries to persuade 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,” said the Democrat in a CNN interview.
But even if the Americans follow the new president, there are still six weeks before he takes office. The effects of Thanksgiving and Christmas could take 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 advisor.
Robert Redfield, the chief executive of the US health department CDC, called the winter months the “most difficult time in the history of the public health of this nation”. His authority assumes that 300,000 Americans will have died of Covid before Christmas.
Collaboration (graphic): Laura Stresing
– .
