Experts Are Predicting the U.S. Could See Another 100K COVID Deaths By Christmas. Here’s How to Avoid That.
With nearly 100,000 Americans hospitalized with Covid-19 and infections surging among the unvaccinated population, it’s possible another 100,000 people could die from the virus by December, according to a recent University of Washington model. It’s the first time that level has been reached since January 2021 as medical workers say they’re once again struggling to treat waves of patients.
The latest figure, amid a summer surge in Covid-19 cases driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant, is also more than double what it was on the same day last year when vaccines were not available as they are now. Hospitals and researchers have been saying the vast majority of this year’s hospitalized patients are unvaccinated. The availability of vaccines makes the current hospitalization surge tragic.
Around 52 percent of the American population is fully vaccinated, but health authorities have hit a wall of vaccine hesitant people, impeding the national campaign. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
“What is going on now is both entirely predictable, but entirely preventable,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN’s Jake Tapper Sunday, saying the outcome of the model is possible. “We know we have the wherewithal with vaccines to turn this around.”
Dr. Fauci tells CNN that, once available, mandating COVID vaccines for children to attend school in person is a "good idea."
"I believe that mandating vaccines for children to appear in school is a good idea."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 30, 2021
On Monday, data presented by a vaccine adviser from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed a hospitalization rate 16 times greater in the unvaccinated population than in those vaccinated. “This to me seems to be a strong indication that the current epidemiologic curve that we’re seeing is really a reflection of a failure to vaccinate, not vaccine failure,” Dr. Matthew F. Daley said at the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (AICP) meeting.
Right now we’re fighting viral warfare against Covid. 1,300 Americans die a day in combat avg.
Repubs say nothing.
13 Americans die in a war zone.
Repubs want Pres impeached.I’m thinking Repubs would wanna act if the virus was brown?
— 🇵🇱Reality Dose🇺🇸 (@LRPow79) August 30, 2021
With a daily average of 155,000 newly reported infections, many hospitals are buckling under the weight of another surge. Across the South last week, many hospitals were reporting oxygen shortages amid a rise in hospitalizations from the virus. Around 80 million eligible Americans are still not vaccinated — the very group that could help turn the pandemic around, Dr. Fauci said.
To the people willingly ingesting horse dewormer: So, you believe that Covid is real. And you are scared enough to take something. But you'd rather down a medicine approved by Mister Ed and Wilbur than Doctor Fauci and the FDA?
— Bryan Behar (@bryanbehar) August 30, 2021
“We could do it efficiently and quickly if we just get those people vaccinated. That’s why it’s so important now, in this crisis that we’re in that people put aside any ideologic, political, or other differences, and just get vaccinated,” he said.