On May 12, local time, the White House announced that the number of deaths in the United States due to the new crown epidemic exceeded the 1 million mark. On the same day, Fauci, the chief medical adviser to the White House, made a guest appearance on PBS's "News Hour" program. He noted that the deaths of at least 250,000 Americans "could have been avoided."
Fauci was interviewed by PBS News Hour
On the show, Fauci first said that the number of coronavirus deaths in the United States exceeded one million was "extremely sad" and that something like this had never happened in 104 years. What is even more tragic is that if vaccine coverage had been greater than it is now, at least 250,000 people could have been spared death.
Fauci then mentioned that the 1 million deaths were something he hadn't anticipated at the start of the outbreak. At first, Fauci expected the number of deaths due to covid-19 in the United States to reach around 200,000, which was criticized by some as "too pessimistic" at the time. But now, the death toll has reached 5 times his estimate and is still rising.
Host Amna Nawaz then asked that many parts of the United States have relaxed their epidemic prevention measures and look like "no epidemic", and Fauci also said on the show earlier that the United States has "emerged from the pandemic stage", so what can the US government do at this moment?
The U.S. lifted mask enforcement in public transportation in April (Source: Reuters)
In response, Fauci once again "clarified" his previous statement on the show. Fauci said he meant that the stage of the acute outbreak of the epidemic has passed, and the days of 900,000 new confirmed cases, 10,000 hospital admissions and 3,000 deaths per day are no longer what needs to be faced now.
But Fauci also stressed that the number of new confirmed cases in the United States is now on an upward trend, which means that they may repeat the same mistakes. If we unprepare and "forget" about vaccines and booster vaccinations, the American people could once again face the predicament they faced months ago.
Fauci called on the U.S. government to continue to increase investment in anti-epidemic resources, otherwise antiviral drugs may not be enough, and the vaccination of vaccine boosters will also be affected.
Some people in the United States believe that since the US government has invested billions of dollars, or many people have died of the new crown, why should we continue to invest more in the fight against the epidemic?
Fauci stresses that vigilance should not be relaxed now (Source: PBS)
Fauci refuted this claim. Billions of dollars have saved millions of lives, he said, and the next investment will continue to save many more. This fall and winter, the United States is expected to usher in the peak of the epidemic again, and to prepare, the United States needs to administer the new crown vaccine and its booster needles, and optimize the treatment.
Finally, Fauci stressed that the United States is still in the midst of an epidemic.
According to ABC News, U.S. President Joe Biden expressed his condolences in a pre-recorded video, saying that the 1 million coronavirus deaths meant "1 million empty chairs at the dinner table at the family dinner," ABC News reported. At the same time, Biden ordered the White House and all federal government agencies to lower their flags to half-mast until sunset on May 16, local time.
Biden announces white house flag lowered to half-mast to mourn COVID-19 dead (Source: Associated Press)
In the video, Biden also calls on the U.S. Congress to pass his emergency COVID-19 budget as soon as possible to secure supplies of COVID-19 treatment drugs and vaccines.
Previously, Biden tried to "bundle" the $33 billion proposal to aid Ukraine with the $10 billion COVID-19 response proposal, but was stalled by opposition from congressional Republicans. In order to get the aid to Ukraine proposal passed as soon as possible, so as not to delay "this vital war effort", On May 9, Biden had to announce the "decoupling" of the two proposals.
According to media analysis, this actually makes the prospect of the anti-epidemic budget passing even more bleak.
At the end of March, US media reported that because the US House of Representatives had "cut" the US$15.6 billion of new crown relief funds proposed by the Biden administration when it passed the 2022 comprehensive appropriation bill with a scale of $1.5 trillion, it became a thing of the past for those who lacked health insurance coverage to receive free COVID-19 testing, vaccination and treatment services in the United States.
The New York Times reported that the U.S. Congress cut the COVID-19 budget is worrying
This is undoubtedly contrary to Fauci's hope that the vaccine will reach more people. At that time, senior officials in the US health department worried that in the context of the spread of the Olmiquerong strain, the US Congress's move to "cut the budget" could bring serious consequences.
According to the statistics of Johns Hopkins University in the United States, as of May 12, local time, the total number of confirmed cases of new crown in the United States reached 82.31 million. As of 6:20 Beijing time on May 13, in the past 24 hours, there have been 93,298 new infections and 369 new deaths in the United States.
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