(CNN) – The United States recorded its incomprehensible 500,000th death from COVID-19, paradoxically, at a time of unusual hope during the pandemic. However, the tragic milestone will come with a White House reluctant to predict when the crisis will recede, while balancing critical political and epidemiological risks.
A warning from Dr. Anthony Fauci on CNN on Sunday that Americans could wear face masks until 2022 came when major medical associations called for increased vigilance for people already exhausted from months of self-isolation and the economic impact of the worst public health disaster. 100 years. But the national dichotomy between fear and hope became clear with the announcement that more vaccines are being shipped to states than ever before and with a rapid decline in new cases of coronavirus in most parts of the country.
The symbolic power of the half-million figure underscores the horror of the nightmare that gripped the country a year ago. On February 23, 2020, then President Donald Trump boasted that “we have it under control” and “there have been no deaths,” revealing his lack of preparation for the disaster that would unfold during his tenure.
Unlike the former president, who rarely bore the nation’s collective grief, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden plan to commemorate the 500,000th American death of Covid-19 with a candle-lighting ceremony. At the White House on Monday. Among them will be Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff.
The current death toll of nearly 499,000 equates to more than six average NFL stadiums full of casualties – back in the days when massive sporting events could still be filled. Each is a grandfather, father, son, daughter or brother who is part of a horrific death toll – the worst in the world during the pandemic – almost equal to the United States’ combined losses in two world wars.
“It’s awful, it’s really awful,” Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease specialist, told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”
“Over the next few decades, people will talk about this as a terribly historic milestone in the history of this country, that so many people have died of a respiratory infection,” Fauci said.
Reasons for hope and new warning signs
The crisis cost one president – who failed to prioritize his nation’s health over his own political perspectives – and is now putting another, who promises to be “ focused ” this week on a package of aid for the $ covid. 1.9 trillion, designed to accelerate the end of the pandemic and mitigate its dire economic consequences.
Perhaps more than ever before the current crisis, there is cause for optimism that even with months to go for a return to normalcy, the hopelessness caused by the darkest winter in modern American history may be fading.
New cases of covid-19 are falling dramatically across the country, surprisingly up to a quarter compared to week to week. Deaths, a lagging indicator, are also starting to decline. The vaccination effort is increasing and will likely overcome a delay caused by a mid-week winter storm. More than 63 million doses of vaccines have been administered, and Biden says sufficient vaccines will be available for all Americans by the end of July. More studies suggest that Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, licensed in the US, can also prevent infection, and not just symptomatic diseases, a key factor in ending the pandemic. The arrival of spring in a few weeks’ time and the warmer weather that makes it difficult for the virus to spread may provide a greater sense of renewal this year.
Still, there are many reasons to be careful. The arrival in the US of viral variants first discovered in the UK and South Africa underscores that the country is in a race against time to vaccinate before the virus continues to mutate. New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed 1,700 U.S. cases of the rapidly spreading variants on Sunday, which experts fear could tame local infections in weeks. And the battle to open schools after many children trapped in nearly a year of online learning is a lesson in how difficult it will be to fully and safely reopen the economy and the country.
Such complications, and the desire to prepare the country for the long term if necessary, demonstrate Biden’s extremely cautious approach, which in itself contrasts with the misplaced optimism of the previous White House.
“God willing, this Christmas will be different than before,” the president said in Michigan on Friday, building on a comment he first made earlier this week at a CNN forum in Wisconsin.
But I can’t commit to you. There are other variants of the virus. We don’t know what can happen in terms of production rates (of vaccines). Things can change. But we’re doing everything science tells us we should, and people are doing everything we can. “
No projections
Fauci explained Biden’s warnings about the State of the Union show when he noted that the president had warned against showing screenings.
“These are just projections that are estimates and a lot can be done to change this. And that’s why we have to be careful because there are variants to deal with. There are many more things that would make a projection I give you today, this Sunday, different in six months, ”said Fauci.
This uncertainty is one of the reasons Fauci said it was “possible” that the use of masks would still be necessary in 2022, depending on the level of virus remaining in the community for the next year or more.
“If it goes down a lot and the vast majority of people in the population get vaccinated, then I would feel comfortable saying, we have to take off our masks, we don’t have to wear masks,” Fauci said.
The rapid decline in the number of COVID-19 cases, reflecting the slow increase in the Christmas period, will inevitably increase the pressure for a faster return to normalcy. In fact, some states have already relaxed restrictions on restaurants and retail significantly. The changing dynamics will give the president a growing political headache as he seeks a deliberate pace for reopening. The lesson of Trump’s hasty demands to return to normal last summer, which has contributed to a disastrous spate of infections, is that proclaiming victory too soon is unwise and can create the conditions for existing and persistent mutations. Evolution of the virus takes hold and prolong the pandemic.
Three influential medical associations issued a warning on Sunday that, despite signs of hope, the challenges of COVID-19 remain dire.
“With newer and more contagious variants of the virus circulating in the United States, now is not the time to lower our guard and reduce the measures we know will work to prevent further illness and death,” the American said. Medical Association, the American. Hospital Association and the American Nurses Association in a statement.
It’s a message that echoes that of the White House: cautious optimism, but knowing that the pernicious nature of this deadly pandemic, which has consistently exceeded the expected death toll and could claim tens of thousands more lives, means that you cannot bear anything for granted. .
CNN’s Arlette Saenz and Jessica Firger contributed to this story.