South Africa tour of India 2019
Biden Informally Gives Up On The Pandemic Fear.
The US has informally called an end to the coronavirus pandemic — more out of fatigue and surrender than from conquering it.
Although the 7-day average of Covid-related deaths has reached 2,600 in recent days — the highest in a year — with the US accounting for nearly 100,000 of the half-million deaths from the Omicron variant, the country has decided that it has had enough of being bunkered down, with the state after state starting to dump strict protocols and mask mandates.
Zeroing on the decline in cases and hospitalizations ahead of deaths is a lagging indicator; leading pandemic expert Anthony Fauci on Wednesday suggested that the US is past a full-blown pandemic and it is okay for local authorities and individuals to relax restrictions depending on local numbers.
As much as a falling number of cases and hospitalizations that are disproportionately affecting the older demographic, the primary driver for the relaxation appears to be public fatigue, with frustration and resignation captured in several surveys.
A Monmouth University poll found that 7 in 10 Americans (70%) agreed with the sentiment that "it's time we accept that Covid is here to stay and we just need to get on with our lives" — the political breakup of respondents being 89% Republicans, 71% independents, and 47% of Democrats.
Officials from the WHO and the Center of Disease Control are still leery of premature relaxation. On the other hand, a majority of Americans, it appears, couldn't care; they've had enough.
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