Covid-19: the United States crosses the barrier of 500,000 dead
Nurses treat a patient with severe Covid-19 at a Los Angeles area hospital on December 22, 2020. AP - Jae C. Hong
Text by: Marie Normand Follow
5 mins
The milestone of half a million deaths was crossed on Monday, February 22, against the backdrop of the delay in the vaccination campaign.
It is the most affected country in terms of number of cases and number of deaths.
Various tributes are scheduled for Monday in Washington.
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The bells of the National Cathedral in Washington will ring 500 times at 5 p.m. on Monday, February 22.
This tribute to the victims of Covid-19 will be broadcast live on the
website
of the institution internet.
Joe Biden is also scheduled to speak at a ceremony at the White House.
The US President will order the flags to be half-masted for five days on all federal buildings.
Today at 5 pm ET: @WNCathedral tolls its funeral bell 500 times to mourn 500,000 lives lost to # COVID19.
Featuring mourner's prayers from Christianity, Judaism @SixthandI, Islam, Buddhism @sgi_info and Sikhism @DrRajwantSingh https://t.co/jtRIamVWOf pic.twitter.com/lKPDisw9Fr
- Washington National Cathedral (@WNCathedral) February 22, 2021
This death toll - half a million dead - is on the front page of the American press, which tries to give colorful examples so that readers can better understand what it represents.
The
Washington Post
, for example, explains that in one year the pandemic killed the equivalent of the population of the cities of Atlanta or Sacramento.
500,000 deaths, continues the newspaper on its website, it is also the equivalent of a line of coaches of 50 passengers, placed one behind the other, over 150 km.
The heavy toll exceeds the number of soldiers who fell during the Vietnam War or during World War II, as pointed out by Joe Biden, who has made the fight against the coronavirus the priority of his mandate.
Encouraging indicators, but vaccination delayed
However, the indicators are rather encouraging.
The number of deaths is down almost 30% this week compared to last week.
Hospitalizations also: -15%.
The United States also has much less contamination.
After the peaks in January, when the country recorded hundreds of thousands of new cases per day, fewer than 65,000 cases of coronavirus are currently detected on average each week.
Experts partly explain this by better compliance with health measures and by the increase in the number of people vaccinated.
The vaccination campaign was however
delayed by bad weather conditions
.
The polar cold wave that has hit the United States for more than a week has hampered the distribution of six million doses of vaccine.
According to the White House, all states in the country are affected, while so far the pace of vaccinations has been encouraging with 1.7 million injections on average per day.
More than 61 million people have already received at least one dose of the two authorized vaccines, those of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
They are now distributed in pharmacies.
"
These vaccines are safe
", "
go get vaccinated when it is your turn
", again hammered Joe Biden on his Twitter account on Monday.
If there's one message I want to cut through to everyone in this country, it's this: The vaccines are safe.
For yourself, your family, your community, our country - take the vaccine when it's your turn and available.
That's how we'll beat this pandemic.
- President Biden (@POTUS) February 22, 2021
The president said he was confident to reach 600 million available doses (the equivalent of the American population) by the end of July.
On Friday, he said he believed his country would "
get closer to normal by the end of the year
."
He is more optimistic than one of his main advisers on the subject, immunologist Anthony Fauci.
"
We do not know
", repeats the latter when questioned on the question of returning to normal.
He also warns that
the masks could still be needed in 2022
.
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