The recent wave of Covid-19 led by the fast transmitting delta variant has accelerated the health care crisis in the USA. According to data released by John Hopkins University, the USA now accounts for a fifth of the total coronavirus cases in the world.
This is even though over 60% of the USA population has been given at least one shot of the Covid-19 vaccine. Currently, 60% of Americans have received at least one vaccine shot, and close to 51% is fully vaccinated. In the last week, the USA recorded close to 9,00,000 new Covid-19 cases while the death surpasses 4,500.
The USA Now Accounts For 20% Of Total Covid-19 Cases Of The World
The delta variant of the Covid-19 virus has led to this recent surge and the number of cases is rising in 46 states of the country led by the states in the south. Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oregon have seen a record number of cases in the past week. The situation especially in Oregon is quite grim and the federal government has deployed the National Guard to contain the spread of this contagious variant.
Dr. Francis Collins, the director at the National Institute of Health Sciences has warned that the number of new cases in the next few weeks may surpass 2,00,000 cases daily.
He warned that most of the new cases shall be amongst the unvaccinated people and urged Americans to get vaccinated as early as possible to contain the spread of the virus. In an interaction with Fox News on Sunday, he warned that the 90 million unvaccinated Americans are sitting ducks for the virus and the situation is heartbreaking.
According to medical analysts and healthcare experts, the healthcare system in the country is now on the verge of a breakdown. Experts believe that new beds, facilities can be created in parking lots of hospitals or other structures nearby hospitals but what is difficult to find is the number of qualified healthcare providers to staff these beds. The nation is now critically short of healthcare staff especially the ICU nurses to care for critically ill patients in hospitals.
It is now widely believed amongst experts and healthcare professionals that after 8-9 months, the protection offered by the mRNA vaccines is waning. During the last week, the US FDA authorized administering a third dose of the vaccine for transplant and immune-compromised patients.
US FDA is also evaluating whether the effect of vaccines is waning amongst the elderly and other populations and it is believed that in the next few weeks third dose may be authorized for elderly people as well to boost protection. Meanwhile, the local pharmacies CVS and Walgreens have begun administering the third dose of the vaccine shot to immunocompromised patients who have completed their 2 doses at least 28 days ago.
It is observed the number of child cases has increased steadily all throughout July and the first half of August. Close to 15% of the total new cases reported are amongst children and this has caused debates amongst parents and officials on the mandatory use of masks in schools. Some parents want local officials to make masks mandatory in defiance of the state laws.
