The summer of hope ends in gloom

WASHINGTON (AP) – The summer that was supposed to mark America’s independence from COVID-19 is instead drawing to a close as the U.S. stands more firmly under the tyranny of the virus, with deaths per day falling back to March.

The Delta variant fills hospitals, makes an alarming number of children sick and is driving coronavirus deaths in some places to the highest level in the entire pandemic. School systems that have reopened their classrooms are abruptly switching back to distance learning due to outbreaks. Legal disputes, threats and violence have broken out because of mask and vaccination requirements.

The US death toll is more than 650,000, with a large forecasting model predicting it will exceed 750,000 by December 1.

“It felt like we had this forward-looking, positive dynamic,” laments Katie Button, head chef and CEO of two restaurants in Asheville, North Carolina. “The Delta version completely wiped this timeline away.”

It shouldn’t be like that. After more than six months of the U.S. vaccination campaign, President Joe Biden hosted a July 4th party at the White House to celebrate the country’s freedom from the virus, and other political leaders had high hopes for a near-normal summer.

Then the floor fell out.

The summer wave was fueled by the extra contagious Delta variant combined with strong resistance to vaccinations that formed along political and geographic boundaries, said Dr. Sten Vermund of the Yale School of Public Health.

“The virus spread more efficiently among the unvaccinated, so the expected benefits of vaccines were blunted,” said Vermund.

The crisis escalated rapidly from June to August. About 400,000 COVID-19 infections were registered for the whole of June. It took a whole three days last week to get the same number.

The US recorded 26,800 deaths and more than 4.2 million infections in August. The number of monthly positive cases was the fourth highest figure since the pandemic began.

The 2021 delta-driven rush is killing younger Americans at a much higher rate than previous waves of the northeast pandemic last spring, the sun belt in summer 2020, and the deadly winter wave around the holidays.

During the peaks of these waves, Americans over 75 suffered the highest percentage of deaths. Today the most vulnerable age group for death is 50 to 64 years.

Overall, the outbreak is still well below the all-time highs seen in winter, when deaths were 3,400 a day and new cases a quarter of a million a day.

The US now has an average of over 150,000 new cases per day, not since January. The number of deaths is nearly 1,500 a day, more than a third more than at the end of August.

Even before the delta variant became dominant, experts said there was evidence that larger gatherings and loose social distancing measures were fueling new cases.

“We were locked up for over a year and everyone wanted out,” said Dr. David Dowdy, epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Given this dramatic change in behavior, it was not enough to even have nearly two-thirds of our adult population vaccinated.”

The COVID-19 vaccines remain highly effective against hospitalizations and deaths, but many tens of millions of eligible Americans remain unvaccinated. Almost 40% of Americans 12 and older are not fully protected.

Yale’s Vermund sees reason to be cautiously optimistic for the next few months. Cases in most states appear to be stabilizing and expected to decline in the fall, giving health officials more time to vaccinate adults and teenagers before the flu season.

“If we can make further progress by Thanksgiving, we can potentially mitigate the coronavirus surge in the flu season significantly,” Vermund said.

While the economy has rebounded strongly in recent months, hiring slowed sharply in August, a sign that the option is discouraging Americans from flying, shopping or eating out.

And on Monday, unemployment benefits – including an additional $ 300 a week from the federal government – ran out for millions of Americans.

Button, the North Carolina chef, felt great in the summer. Her team was largely vaccinated by May and restrictions were relaxed. But the crisis soon changed direction.

Button supports the mask mandate recently reintroduced in her county, but said her staff are exhausted from having to enforce it. And since it doesn’t have any outdoor seating, some guests have felt less comfortable.

“It’s hard to take one step forward and then three steps back,” she said.

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Durbin reported from Detroit.

source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/09/08/the-summer-of-hope-ends-in-gloom/