Requires $ 2,000 per American

The big aid package, it will be recalled, was obtained after lengthy negotiations between the leaders of the two parties in Washington, which lasted for many months and only after the turbulent election campaign was a breakthrough possible. This is the second largest economic aid package in American history, slightly more than the one approved in 2009 to deal with the economic crisis at the time. Despite this the scope of the approach of many Americans – especially the Democrats – is not sufficient to deal with the even more severe consequences of the Corona plague. This is especially in light of the fact that the virus continues to rage across the US, with thousands dead and hundreds of thousands of new infections every day – a spread that now leads to new restrictions and consequently a rising unemployment rate. By comparison, the previous aid package approved in March was $ 2.2 trillion.

As in the previous assistance program, this time too the package includes checks that will be mailed to most Americans, but instead of the $ 1,200 they received in March they should now receive only $ 600 (for those whose annual salary is up to $ 75,000). The package also includes assistance to the unemployed in the amount of $ 300 each week, also half of the amount awarded in March, and additional billions to help pay rent, distribute food to the poor, support schools, universities and hospitals, as well as additional budgets to distribute the virus vaccine and diagnose it.

In a video released tonight by Trump, he said the current amount of grants to Americans is “ridiculous,” and demanded an increase to 2,000 for a single person, and 4,000 for couples. Trump criticized the fact that Congress also approved aid funds for foreign countries – although these funds are included in the regular annual budget, and not as part of the aid package that was included in it. The outgoing president has called on Congress to “get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items in this legislation immediately, and send me an appropriate law – or the next administration will have to provide a package of aid to the corona crisis.”

Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was more cautious in his response, calling on Trump to now sign the approved package, and later join Democrats’ efforts to advance further aid programs. “We would be happy to pass on more aid that the Americans need. Maybe Trump will finally make himself helpful and prevent Republicans from blocking it.”

The caution shown by a guard may come in the shadow of the fact that the aid package was approved thanks to pressure exerted by President-elect Joe Biden, who called on Democrats to reach a compromise. Biden, while emphasizing that he intends to promote another aid package after the January 20 change of government, was proud of the deal reached and said it was a testament to his ability to reach compromises with Republicans and implement his policies even without a clear majority in both houses of Congress.

Republicans also praised the deal, with Senate Leader Mitch McConnell declaring to the Americans that “help is on the way.” The New York Times reported that Trump’s threat to veto the aid package came as a surprise to senior administration officials as well. One of them is probably Finance Minister Steve Manuchin, who was a partner in the negotiations for the deal, and with the announcement on Monday he said it was a “great birthday present” for him. It now remains to be seen whether Trump will actually carry out his threat, and whether Republicans will dare to change his mind – and pass on aid anyway.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ocean, European countries continue to deal with the growing corona morbidity in their territory. In Germany, which in the first wave won worldwide acclaim for dealing with the virus but is now suffering a severe blow in the second wave, a new record of one-day deaths was reported this morning – 962. The Robert Koch Institute, the country’s disease control agency, also reported 24,740 new infections.

The most serious focus of illness now in Germany is in the eastern state of Saxony, where hospitals are flooded with patients and have even begun to transfer some of them to hospitals in other parts of the country. According to the German health authorities, in Saxony the number of infections is 414 per 100,000 inhabitants, twice the average figure in all of Germany.

To deal with the growing morbidity Chancellor Angela Merkel and the heads of the 16 states of the province announced last week the tightening of the restrictions on the partial closure which began as early as November but failed to reduce the morbidity. In fact Germany is now in a general blockade. Authorities called on Germans to refrain from traveling to their relatives during Christmas.

In France, too, health experts fear a rapid spread of the virus and warn that another closure, a third in number, may be required. “On the epidemiological front, the plague is really out of control,” Karin Lacombe, head of the infectious diseases department at Saint-Antoine Hospital in Paris, told local media. She said it was imperative to continue to maintain further closure as a possible tool in the fight against the virus.

In France, too, experts fear that the family reunions that are expected at Christmas will lead to a further jump in the number of people infected, and later also in the number of sick and dead. Yesterday, state authorities reported another 802 deaths a day and 11,795 new infections.

“We’ll look at the numbers of infections in all areas of the country, and especially at what the mutant strain does,” Generic said. The minister stressed that “by no means” is there any intention to change the rules that will allow three different households to meet at Christmas, in areas in England that are not under the fourth and most severe rank in the British traffic light scheme, a rank that did not exist so far in the plan and Johnson actually created it when he announced On the closure in London and its environs. When Housing Minister Genrik was asked whether after Christmas, Dec. 26, restrictions may be extended to more areas, he did not rule out that possibility.

In any case, it should be noted, the government in London is empowered to impose restrictions only on the inhabitants of the English region, and not on the other parts that make up the United Kingdom. The local governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are the ones responsible for treating the plague in their territory.

“Last Friday, while attending a memorial service, I was without a mask for a short time. It was a stupid mistake and I am very sorry,” Sturgeon said. “I talk every day about the importance of masks, so I’m not going to make excuses. I’m angry at myself, I’m sorry.”

The Scottish Conservative Party, the local branch of Boris Johnson’s party, was quick to attack Sturgeon and claimed that in its conduct it undermined the message the authorities were trying to convey to the Scots. “There must not be one rule for Nicola Sturgon and another rule for the rest,” the Scottish Conservatives said. Robert Generic, Johnson’s housing minister, was more forgiving. “It’s never easy. We’re all human in the end,” he said.