PVC patient inspection gloves are manufactured in Jiangsu province for export to the United States. XU HUI / FOR CHINA DAILY
Despite their advanced medical research and health care system, the United States has led the world in COVID-19 deaths and cases.
The country is now in the grip of the “third wave” of the pandemic, one that is far larger than the previous two and has hit the Midwest hardest.
The death toll is expected to continue to rise, spurred by travel over the Christmas and New Year holidays and keeping lax to mask wear and other measures.
Masks are seen across the globe as a key tool to COVID-19. In many other countries, masonry orders are becoming more common, but the mask debate continues in the US.
Top U.S. health officials first told people not to wear masks and then reversed their instructions. Public health experts have stressed the wearing of masks, which US President Donald Trump has not fully supported.
Trump has long been willing to wear a mask in public. He has also refused to introduce a national mandate, saying he wants people to have “special freedom”.
Critics said the command of masonry in religious settings was contrary to the practice of free religion. The Supreme Court, with a strong 6-3 retention majority, has sided with the religious groups against COVID-19-related restrictions in New York, Colorado and New Jersey.
Masking controversies
Tensions over mask requirements have led to violence in some states. A Michigan store security guard was killed by a customer who told their family they had to wear masks to enter the store.
Protests against the mask have continued across the country for months.
Local health officials in California, South Dakota and other states were harassed and threatened to issue mask orders. Some cities had to reverse their mask orders or abruptly suspend public health meetings under the pressure of anti-mask protests.
State and local governments have changed widely regarding the implementation of mask regulations. California was the first to issue a state mask order in June, with many states following suit.
There are still 12 states though no state mask is required such as Arizona, Florida, Mississippi and South Dakota.
The Trump administration has been criticized for not responding sufficiently to the pandemic. The president himself again reduced the virus and often challenged public health experts in their grave warnings about the disease.
Experts said the pandemic was politically motivated by opposition to public health measures such as wearing masks.
The misinformation also leads many U.S. citizens to think of COVID-19 as a “hoax” or “just another flu”. Some patients dying from COVID-19 still believe the disease is not real, several nurses turned to social media to express their disappointment.
Another form of coronavirus politics is the introduction of administration by scientific institutions.
“From day one, this has been more political than another pandemic I’ve been involved in,” Angela Rasmussen, a psychologist at Columbia University, said in an interview with National Public Radio.
Trump and his Republican allies used the term “Chinese virus” or “kung flu” in public speeches and rallies, a strategy that critics said was used to shift the blame for the pandemic to China. As a result, Asian Americans have experienced COVID-19-related racism.
Nine months after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic worldwide, the worldwide effort to create a safe and effective vaccine is beginning to bear fruit.
Following the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccinations, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved another vaccine developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health.
Up to 40 million doses could be delivered by the end of the year, enough to vaccinate those in the high-priority designated group, high-risk health care workers, and home residents nursing and long-term care facilities.
With total government orders of 300 million doses, 150 million U.S. citizens are expected to receive the vaccine by mid-2021.
But only half say they want to get vaccinated, while about a quarter of them and the rest are uncertain, a recent poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Health Research said.