The number of daily new cases in the US has increased by 14 percent since the beginning of April, according to Johns Hopkins University, reaching about 32,000 cases per day. The rise is powered by the NE. 2 variant, which has caused explosions in Europe in recent weeks. Unlike other waves, however, the US policy response has so far been silent, with Congress continuing to quarrel over $ 10 billion in additional pandemic spending and mask orders largely abandoned. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and a former adviser to US President Joe Biden on Covid, said: “We want this to end, but it is not over. “If we do not do things like restore mask commands, it would be a big mistake.” Public health experts have been warning for weeks about the possibility of another wave of infections in the US, after seeing the UK and EU recently suffer the second largest increase in confirmed cases since the pandemic began. However, these warnings did not elicit a significant political response. Officials in Philadelphia reinstated the mask mandate, while the federal government extended its mandate for the public transportation mask for another two weeks. But most states and cities have so far resisted reintroducing the kinds of public health restrictions previously observed in the pandemic.
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Cases have started to rise, but so far in a much more fragmented way than in Europe. New case levels are approaching peaks before Omicron in many northeastern states such as Vermont and Massachusetts, as well as cities such as Washington, DC. Several senior politicians, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, recently contracted the disease after attending the annual Gridiron dinner in Washington. But elsewhere infections seem to have remained low. In Texas, for example, the average daily incidence rate has changed little since early March. Some experts believe that the true extent of the increase is obscured by the huge drop in the volume of tests performed. At the peak of the Omicron wave in January, more than 2 million tests were performed every day in the United States. Now the number is about 540,000. Others, however, believe the US BA. Wave 2 is proving less powerful than what struck Europe, in part because many Americans became infected with Omicron and in part because better weather allowed more socialization outdoors. Leana Wen, a professor of public health at George Washington University, said: “I do not think there is going to be a huge increase. ΒΑ. 2 currently accounts for about 82 percent of infections and when it was so prevalent in Europe, it had already caused a dramatic increase. “I do not think we will see that here.” While public health professionals are worried about what might happen in the coming weeks, members of Congress have gone on vacation without agreeing to approve more spending on Covid-19. As a result, doctors can no longer claim the cost of examinations and treatment uninsured by the federal government, and the Biden government has not been able to buy the treatments it wants. Labcorp and Quest, two of the country’s largest test makers, both told the Financial Times that they have begun charging uninsured, of whom there are 30 million in the United States. Quest charges between $ 100 and $ 125 for a PCR test, while two quick antigen tests cost $ 70. Doctors believe this is likely to prevent millions of people from being tested and treated for Covid-19 and thus worsen the effects of BA. 2 wave. Dr Sterling Ransone, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, said: “A lot of people know funding is running out and some of them are not looking for the care they need because of cost concerns. “We are very concerned that people are not coming for tests and that patients are transmitting the disease more.”
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Pharmaceutical companies have also begun to warn that they may not be able to continue providing vaccines and treatments without new funding. Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, said he was “very concerned” by the funding delays, which risked creating a “big problem” as the virus and pandemic had not disappeared. David Ricks, CEO of Eli Lilly, warned: “These drugs are over now.” The increase in cases is likely to prove to be the first major test for Dr. Ashish Jha, Biden’s new chief adviser on Covid-19. So far, Ja has tried to reassure Americans of the dangers of another wave, rather than trying to persuade people to change their behavior to slow the spread. “I think we have to be careful,” he said this week. “But I do not think this is the time to worry too much.”
