The mayor of New York confirmed the closure as of this Thursday, November 19, 2020 of the city’s public schools after the positivity rate of the tests reached the threshold of 3%, from which he had committed to take this measure which remains controversial.
As the Covid-19 epidemic continues to rage in the United States, the mayor of New York announced the closure of public schools on Thursday, November 19. The positivity rate of the tests in the first American city reached 3%, the threshold from which the mayor had committed to take this measure with the teachers’ unions. “We have to fight against the second wave,” said Bill de Blasio, referring all students to online education for an unspecified length of time.
Yet the measure, which should soon be accompanied by other restrictions such as the closure of gyms and restaurants, is controversial. Even in schools, the positivity rate does not exceed 0.19%. And many cite the European example, where many countries keep schools open for the well-being of children, despite a re-containment of the rest of the population.
250,000 dead in the United States
The city most bereaved by the first wave of the epidemic in the spring, New York has so far held up fairly well to the second: with 3% positivity, the metropolis and the whole of New York State are among the less affected in the United States. Other states lament double-digit positivity rates, around 50% sometimes in the Midwest. And authorities fear another outbreak of the virus with the family reunion for the Thanksgiving holiday on November 26. The country now mourns more than 250,000 dead, Johns Hopkins University said on Wednesday
The arrival of the vaccines from the most advanced Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna laboratories, however, is becoming clearer: Pfizer said on Wednesday that comprehensive results from its large-scale clinical trials showed that its vaccine was 95% effective and that it would require marketing authorization “within a few days” to the US Medicines Agency (FDA).
No vaccine to stop the second wave
The United States, Europe and other countries have already reserved hundreds of millions of doses. But vaccination will initially be reserved for hospital staff and the most vulnerable people, and the rest of the population will have to wait several more months.
The vaccines will not arrive in time to stop the second wave, and many countries “will continue to face it without vaccines,” however warned on Wednesday Michael Ryan, head of emergencies at the World Health Organization. (WHO). “I think it will take at least four to six months before there are sufficient levels of vaccination anywhere,” he said.
The WHO, however, welcomed a drop in the number of new cases in Europe last week (-10%), even if the pressure remains strong with 1.84 million additional cases. However, the number of deaths continues to increase: more than 29,000 new deaths were recorded on the European continent during this period, ie 18% more than the previous week. And the pandemic threatens to overwhelm some health systems, especially in southern Italy.
MediaCongo
AFP / France 24 / MCP, via mediacongo.net
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