COVID Death Toll Reaches million in the US
A million people have already died due to COVID-19. It was impossible to imagine that number back in March 2019, when the virus started spreading around the globe. After the initial surge in NYC, the national lockdown kept the virus under control, but there were many more deaths since then.
Yet here we are. The number of deaths didn’t have to be this high, and the pandemic could’ve been better handled. Dr. Adalja says that the death toll didn’t have to be as high as it was, and the pandemic should’ve been handled better.
All of these things are lessons about how countries that are considered the most prepared for a pandemic could still end up with horrific deaths. Vaccines help prevent people from getting sick. Countries without them would be in terrible shape because there wouldn’t be any prevention.
Americans aren’t numb to the huge number of deaths, but it’s not necessarily something that they could wrap their minds around. People have been through so much already, so many lives were lost.
Mistakes from the start
Testing issues continue to plague the country as new cases rise. There are still many problems with testing, especially with the omicron variant.
There’s also been minimal investment in health infrastructure and hospital capacity. This leads to recurring problems as if this was coming out the blue. We need pandemic preparedness, and the CDC to be independent.
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COVID-19 vaccine saved almost a quarter-milion lives and prevented almost 1,200,000 hospitalizations in the first 6 months of 2021. Experts say we should have done more to vaccinate more people.
Adalja noted that there were too few people who had been vaccinated against the virus. This led to more deaths than expected. He also mentioned that there wasn’t enough access to treatment options.
Most people in the US have been vaccinated for coronavirus. But more than half of people in America got infected with the virus before vaccines were available.
The vaccine may cause more harm than good. Older adults and people who haven’t had a booster shot may suffer more complications after getting the vaccine.
FDA maps out future of COVID vaccine booster strategy
Looking ahead, we should expect fewer deaths due to coronavirus infections. Hospitalizations will be lower, and deaths will be rarer. We should also expect to see an increase in cases of the flu this fall.
There will be more variants coming until the end of time. Second generation vaccines won’t need boosters as often. People at high risk for severe illness will get them first.
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