The COVID-19 epidemic spreads over 84,5 million Americans still travel for Christmas

According to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Washington, more than 84.5 million Americans have planned to travel during the Christmas season despite the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to spread across the country.

The COVID-19 epidemic spreads over 84,5 million Americans still travel for Christmas

As reported by CBS news agency, the upcoming holiday season will likely be like last Thanksgiving, when more than 50 million tourists went on vacation despite warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. American Diseases (CDC). A month later, those warnings still apply, with the CDC issuing an updated statement on December 23 that traveling this Christmas season may increase the chance of spreading and catching COVID. -19. CDC continues to recommend that Americans postpone travel and stay at home, arguing that this is the best way to protect themselves and others this year.

Over the past seven days, the United States has had more than 1.5 million new confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2, bringing the total number of infections to more than 18.5 million cases since the outbreak of the pandemic. , up 2% over the past two weeks. The rates of death and hospitalization from COVID-19 also increased similarly, by 15% and 13%, respectively.

Infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci urged all Americans to abandon travel and social gatherings. In The Washington Post, Mr. Fauci urged people to stay at home as much as possible, keeping interaction as much as possible with members of the same household.

Experts fear that the COVID-19 epidemic in the US will get worse during the Christmas holiday

With the total number of SARS-CoV-2 virus infections reaching more than 19.11 million cases, with about 337,000 deaths, the US is currently the country most heavily affected by the COVID-19 acute respiratory infection pandemic. On Christmas Eve, California was the first state in the US to have a total of 2 million infections.

In the context of the United States entering the holiday season with many travel plans and family reunions, experts are concerned about potential risks that could aggravate the epidemic situation in this country.

Despite the recommendations of medical experts to limit travel and stay at home, on December 23, the number of people who passed through US airport security gates was 1.19 million people, down 40% from the previous year but the highest level recorded since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in mid-March 2020. In 5 days from December 18 to December 23, every day US airports receive about 1 million people traveling.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US Government’s top infectious disease expert, expressed concern about travel activities during the Christmas and New Year holidays in the context that the US continuously recorded an average of 3,000 deaths per day. during the past 2 weeks.

Meanwhile, Dr. Lee Harrison, professor of epidemiology and medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, said that the US is in a particularly difficult situation, noting that many people are still subjective in epidemic prevention. sick.

In the face of the current COVID-19 epidemic, many Americans expect a vaccine to control the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. According to the commitment of US officials, by the end of 2020 there will be 20 million people in the US vaccinated, but as of December 23, only 1.1 million Americans have received the first dose of the two-dose vaccine. .

On Christmas Eve, California became the first US state to have more than 2 million positive cases of SARS-CoV-2, although the state government has tightened regulations requiring people to stay at home in most locations. side of the state. The statewide hospital system is dealing with the largest wave of disease since the outbreak in the state. More than 18,000 COVID-19 patients in California have been hospitalized, while intensive care rooms are all full. The doctors and nurses were all in a state of exhaustion and fatigue.

California recorded its first case on January 25, 2020. After 292 days, the state of California recorded a total of more than 1 million infections, and just 44 days later, the state recorded an additional 1 million infections.

In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blaso said on December 24 that the average rate of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the past 7 days in this city has reached 6.29%, an increase compared to 6.19% of the previous day. The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 variant in the UK has forced the city government to issue a regulation that all international travelers will receive a quarantine order from the city’s health commissioner via certified mail and any Anyone traveling from the UK will have the Sheriff’s Office oversee the enforcement of the quarantine order. As of December 24, New York recorded 391,640 infections, including 24,790 deaths from COVID-19.