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America finds itself in an even more dire situation. According to The New York Times online tracker, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to kill more than 1,000 people every day in the United States. This death toll could be escalating into what appears to be one of the most dangerous waves yet.
This threshold has not been crossed since March 2021 when the country was finally recovering from the devastating spike in deaths and cases that had hit the country last winter. According to the NYTs tracker, the coronavirus claimed 1,359 lives in the US on Monday. After a difficult couple of weeks, where the delta variant continues its surge across the country, the death rate calculated as a weekly increase crossed the 1,000 mark on Saturday. There is no sign that it will slow down.
Unfortunately, this terrible turn of events was completely predictable.
After a brief hiatus in cases during the summer, the number of infections rose rapidly as the coronavirus delta virus spread throughout the country. This is especially true for those who have not been vaccinated. The number of COVID-19-related infections in the US is now higher than ever since February, when we were still recovering from the devastating winter surge. And it seems that this number is growing.
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Similar to previous spikes and waves of new infections in the past, there has been a sharp increase in deaths.
This is even more tragic because this increase was completely preventable. COVID-19 vaccines are extremely effective, particularly when it comes to preventing deadly and severe cases of coronavirus.
The most shocking thing about this surge to my mind is that it didn't have to happen. Jennifer Caputo–Seidler, a Tampa General Hospital hospitalist, said in a strenuous new STAT News article that her hospital is overwhelmed with coronavirus patients. When COVID-19 vaccines were available, the hope I felt and many other health care workers was real. Vaccines are now easy to obtain at your local pharmacy, pop-up vaccination centre, on the job and anywhere else. It is hard to believe that almost all my COVID-19 patients are not vaccinated.
