Around 60,000 individuals in China have died from Covid-19 since early December when the country abandoned its strict “zero Covid” policy.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
Covid-19 lockdown procedures in Europe appear to be paying off as the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a decline in new weekly cases this week while cases continue to soar in the US. Restrictions across the continent ranged from closing schools and businesses in order to limit person-to-person contact as well as mask mandates to prevent the spread of the virus itself.
The WHO reported this week that new Covid-19 cases in Europe dropped from 2 million to 1.8 million over the last two weeks. Hans Kluge is the WHO’s regional director for Europe who recently released a statement regarding how the slight improvement is offering all Europeans a glimmer of hope for the rest of the winter.
“It’s a small signal, but I firmly believe that there is more hope ahead of us than despair behind us. It will be a different Christmas, but that does not mean it cannot be a merry one.”
Kluge went on to claim that future lockdowns are definitely “avoidable,” however, more individuals need to be on board with mask mandates and the use of contact tracing technology. In total Europe has registered 15.9 million cases of Covid-19 and over 359,000 deaths, according to data from WHO, which accounts for 28% of all global cases.
WHO’s data reveals that on average, one European dies every 17 seconds due to Covid-19 complications. Intensive Care Units in France and Switzerland are being especially overrun and nearing full capacity.
The UK accounts for the highest death-toll in Europe, hence why the country is currently in the middle of a second national lockdown. Health minister Matt Hancock spoke with the press this week regarding the lockdown, claiming that “there are encouraging signs that the number of cases is starting to flatten and the lockdown brought on earlier in the month is working.”
In France currently residents are only allowed to leave their homes to buy essential goods or to exercise for one hour a day, and so far there are signs that these lockdown measures are working. Health ministry data for the country showed that there were only 21,150 new cases this past Thursday, which is an improvement when compared to the 28,383 new cases that appeared on Wednesday.
In the US on the other hand, cases are continuing to climb as the nation nears 12 million total cases and 255,000 deaths, according to media data. CDC official Henry Walke spoke with the media about this dramatic rise and how the country needs to begin shutting down like Europe to curb the spread.
“We’re alarmed with the exponential increase in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.”
New York City’s public school system, the nation’s largest, ceased all in-person classes due to the dramatic rise in cases and on the other side of the nation California Governor Gavin Newsom is currently working on imposing new stay-at-home orders and curfews to help flatten the curve in the state. Encouraging new vaccine developments from Pfizer and Moderna have the world feeling a lot more optimistic in regard to this pandemic, however, we all must continue to remain diligent with these restrictions to protect ourselves and our loved ones in the meantime.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
Six months ago Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted that the Covid-19 virus could kill up to 200,000 Americans if the US didn’t take the proper health and safety precautions to curve the spread. However, at that point the virus had barely impacted any major region in the county, so Fauci was accused of fear mongering by all his skeptics. Now, that prediction has become a dark reality.
What’s even more staggering is that the US hit the 200,000 death mark even earlier than Fauci initially predicted. Since the first Covid-19 death in the US occurred back in early February, an average of more than 860 people have died from the virus every day. That’s equivalent to having the 9/11 attacks occur everyday for 66 days straight, according to the US Department of Defense and New York City medical examiner’s office. Dr. Fauci recently spoke with the media about this “staggering” new data.
“The idea of 200,000 deaths is very sobering and in some respects, stunning. We do have the capability to prevent the transmission with the health and safety procedures that we’ve had in place, they just aren’t being universally implemented throughout our very large country.”
The deaths have caused families and friends to experience the heartbreak of knowing their loved ones died alone in a hospital room while others weren’t even able to receive a proper burial due to health and safety guidelines. Some families have opted for a virtual funeral to honor their loved ones memories, but for many that idea is just too dystopian and sad to even fathom.
Now, Covid-19 is officially the second-leading cause of death in the US right after heart disease; which is the number one cause of death in the world, according to the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
Unfortunately, the US government as it stands is making no major shifts in the health and safety procedures currently in place, and is remaining as open as it possibly can to keep the economy afloat. The death toll is continuing to skyrocket, and the president of the US is holding political rallies in packed stadiums with crowds surpassing 6,000.
Healthcare workers and industry professionals like Dr. Fauci are claiming that it really is up to the individual at this point. Americans need to be willing to fight this battle together since many local, state, and federal branches of government are doing the opposite. The Covid-19 virus has already killed more people in the US than Americans killed in battle during the five most recent wars combined. That’s accounting for the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Persian Gulf Wars.
Stats also show that the US death toll from Covid-19 is currently 109 times higher than the effects from Hurricane Katrina. At the current rate, if Americans keep going about their lives as they have been for the past few months, researchers predict the US will witness an additional 180,000 coronavirus deaths by the New Year. However, the IHME claims it doesn’t have to get that severe, and claims that “increasing mask use to 95% can save nearly 115,000 lives.”
Further recommendations include social distancing at all possible moments and wearing a mask in situations where that’s impossible. Make sure you’re avoiding crowds/crowded spaces in general and are practicing good hygiene; washing your hands consistently, sanitizing, disinfecting surfaces, etc. Remember, we’re all in this together unless we aren’t, so take the precautions and stay safe!
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
Jacinda Ardern defended the country’s most recent outbreak after Trump attempted to undermine New Zealand’s immense success in containing the virus.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
Three months after the coronavirus pandemic reached Brazil the country is now reporting more than 1,000 Covid-19 related deaths every day. This past Thursday the federal health administration announced that Brazil has officially surpassed 2 million confirmed cases of the virus, and 76,000 citizens have died.
Like in America, many healthcare experts are blaming this massive and consistent rise in case/death numbers on the denial of the virus’ severity from individuals in political power, especially Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro has received major backlash throughout the past few months for undermining health experts’ warnings about the coronavirus, and not taking social distancing recommendations seriously; he also is currently battling Covid-19.
There’s also been a massive lack of coordination between healthcare industry workers and politicians throughout this pandemic in Brazil, which as we’ve seen from countries like New Zealand, is essential if they want to see a real decrease in case numbers.
Many city and state governments within Brazil have also been called out multiple times for prematurely reopening businesses despite health experts recommendations to do the opposite. As of right now, an interim health minister, who according to media reports is untrained in the field, is now presiding over the pandemic response.
Former health minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta recently spoke with the Associated Press, where he compared the 7,000 Covid-19 related deaths that have occurred in Brazil throughout the past seven weeks to “several airplanes packed with Brazilians crashing every single day.”
“People have become callous. When you say ‘yesterday there were 1,300 deaths’ people say ‘ok, then it didn’t go up. It was the same the day before too.’”
Brazil’s case numbers make them the second most infected country in the world, right behind the US. Experts believe case numbers in both countries are likely a lot larger, but lack of testing facilities/results is skewing the data. Within the past two weeks alone 10 out of Brazil’s 26 states have seen massive increases in case numbers.
Citizens have been struggling to balance working while protecting themselves, but continuing on in order to earn money, this is especially true for agriculture workers.
“Until it knocks at your door, people are indifferent. Yesterday there were 1,300 deaths from COVID-19. Is that supposed to be few? People are saying that’s just the media. I hear that every day at work.”
Health experts predict that if Brazil continues to remain as open as it is now the death toll will reach 200,000 by November. Like in the US, the major difference that needs to happen is a complete overhaul of how the current administration has handled the virus. Healthcare experts need to have more control over the policies that are put into play, as they’re the ones seeing first hand how badly this virus is impacting different communities.
In the meantime, it’s important that every citizen does their part as well by wearing a mask, practicing social distancing whenever in a public setting, and continuing to wash your hands/sanitize consistently.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.