In recent weeks, the relaxation of corona measures in several US states has reversed. This is necessary because the number of new corona infections in, for example, Florida and Texas is increasing rapidly.
Hospitals overloaded
Texas Governor Greg Abbott is not comfortable with it, the BBC. The number of daily infections in his state has recently increased from an average of 2,000 per day to more than 5,000 per day.
Yesterday, Abbott said that 5,000 new patients are currently being hospitalized every day. The authorities therefore fear that hospitals in the state will soon be unable to handle the influx of new patients.
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US Vice President Mike Pence wants to support the state, he said yesterday. Therefore, corona tests, staff and medical devices are being sent to Texas.
Slow spread
Pence also instructs residents of the state to wear a mask “in every place where it is ordered.” He says it will “slow down the spread of the coronavirus.”
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The United States is the hardest hit country in the world. 125,000 patients died from the effects of the coronavirus, at least 2.5 million Americans became infected with the virus.
Infection experts suspect that the actual number of infections in America may be up to ten times higher, because there is still not enough testing.
Pubs closed
Abbott blames the large increase in infections on certain behavior of its inhabitants, such as a visit to a pub. That is why they closed immediately.
The southern states that are now being hit so hard were the first to relax strict corona measures. Catering businesses were allowed to fill up again, large groups of more than a hundred people were allowed to come together and the control at a distance weakened.
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“Difficult to turn everything back now”
Correspondent Erik Mouthaan suggested last week that in the southern states it will be difficult to reintroduce all corona restrictions. In some areas it is even about a partial lockdown. That is difficult for many people to accept, says Mouthaan.
“Many Republican mayors of those states, like President Trump, have said several times that the worst of the virus was over.” Now they have to convince their inhabitants that it is necessary to keep their distance and to explain why the pubs have to be closed again.
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American infection expert Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, has more bad news for the United States. He fears that even a vaccine in the country cannot provide group immunity.
Anti-vaxxers
A poll by CNN shows that a third of all Americans do not want to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. In addition, Fauci expects that a future vaccine will only be 70 to 75 percent effective, he says.
If not all Americans get vaccinated, that means, according to Fauci, that not enough protection is being created. According to the expert, group immunity is therefore ‘unlikely’.
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