In the past week, California had an average of 42,452 new confirmed cases per day.
The US state of California, which set an example at the start of the pandemic for its management and low rate of cases and deaths, has become the global epicenter of the health crisis for several reasons. What happened?
Leaving rural areas; the low assessment of working conditions by the health authorities; the lack of economic aid for the poorest population; the shortage of beds in Intensive Care Units (ICU) and the psychological consequences of the prolonged closure of schools and outdoor activities are some of the factors that have led to this situation.
And all of this has led Los Angeles County to be the place in the country with the most discovered cases (663,954) and deaths (9,153) in the United States, a country with more than 18.4 million infected and 326,259 deaths from COVIDs. 19, based on the latest independent counting data from Johns Hopkins University.
Little attention to rural cases
Despite the fact that the number of cases in California declined significantly during the summer, infections continued or grew in rural areas of the state, such as the Central Valley.
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“We didn’t pay enough attention to the fact that infection rates in rural communities were very high in the summer, and that took its toll on us.”, defends Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, American epidemiologist and physician at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), in an interview with Efe.
According to data from an analysis by Stanford University, more than 5 million people live in rural California, representing 13% of the state’s total population.
Working conditions on the front line
Another circumstance that has played a relevant role in the growth in the number of cases and deaths from COVID-19 in California is the low revision of working conditions in places with “essential” workers, such as supermarkets or food factories.
In this sense, the president of the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics believes that the state of California “It hasn’t taken a very active stance to enforce protection in the workplace.”
“We have discovered a large handover among essential workers with low pay”, he says.
Insufficient financial support
For Bibbins-Domingo, the lack of strong economic aid to the state’s poorest communities has also been one of the key factors that the pandemic severely impacted California, one of the most expensive states to live in the United States. mainly in terms of transport and accommodation costs.
“In ten months of a pandemic, essential workers must rest, isolate themselves if they are infected, recover if they lose their jobs. But this is not possible without economic relief “, the pandemic expert emphasizes.
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Just next Thursday, Republicans in the US House of Commons blocked Democrats’ attempt to change the $ 900,000 million congressional stimulus plan after US President Donald Trump threatened to lock it if there are no changes.
In particular, Democrats wanted to increase the direct payments millions of taxpayers will receive from $ 600 to $ 2,000 after Trump demanded that increase Tuesday, in a request that breaks with his party’s stance.
Bed shortage in ICUs
In the past week, California had an average of 42,452 new confirmed cases per day, about 107.4 per 100,000 residents.
This high rate of infections and the low capacity of beds in the state’s ICUs (in Southern California, they have a 0% capacity) has led to the collapse of the California hospital system.
“The reality is that we have less capacity to withstand such a major emergency, and this is rightly a big factor. But I think prevention is more important “, the doctor emphasizes.
Psychological consequences of a long-term closure
California Governor Gavin Newsom has set one of the strictest restrictions in the state in controlling the pandemic, keeping schools closed during the pandemic and preventing access to wildlife parks. and beaches for several months.
“People are all very tired of this, and now that it is really important to stay home, the attention is less”Bibbins-Domingo argues.
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