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Xinhua Headlines: Behind grim milestone of 100,000 coronavirus deaths in U.S.

XINHUA

發布於 2020年05月28日02:29

-- With 4.25 percent of the world population, the United States has suffered over 28 percent of global pandemic deaths so far. Its death toll is more than double the number of deaths reported in any other nation in the world;

-- Politicians in Washington D.C. continue to ignore the wake-up call for unity and cooperation, and politicalize the pandemic struggle over election concerns;

-- Besides urging cooperation, a Pew poll showed Americans largely agree the United States should look beyond its borders for ideas to combat the coronavirus.

NEW YORK, May 27 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from COVID-19 in the United States exceeded 100,000 on Wednesday, the highest globally and a grim milestone in the country with a well-developed public health care system and highly-advanced medical technology.

Nearly 1.7 million cases have been reported in the country as of Wednesday afternoon, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. New York, the country's worst-hit state, reported 364,965 cases with 29,370 deaths; New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Illinois each reported over 5,000 deaths.

Flowers are placed beside a refrigerated temporary morgue outside Brooklyn Hospital Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York, the United States, on April 24, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

With all 50 states having partially reopened their economies, a key coronavirus model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation forecast that more than 140,000 people in the country would die by Aug. 4.

If there is any silver lining for Washington in the midst of the pandemic, it should be coordination and cooperation within the country and beyond, observers say.

"New York Times" publishes the names of 1,000 people who died of COVID-19 in the United States, on its front page May 24, 2020.

 (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

DODGING RESPONSIBILITY

"As we battle the coronavirus, American lives depend on a successful government response. But with rare exceptions, House Members' jobs do not," said David Litt, a former speechwriter for then U.S. President Barack Obama, in an article published by TIME magazine.

With 4.25 percent of the world population, the United States has suffered over 28 percent of global pandemic deaths so far. Its death toll is more than double the number of deaths reported in any other nation in the world.

Many U.S. experts believe the tragedy could have been avoided, if timely and coordinated efforts had been taken.

It was not until March 16 that the White House reversed its previously dismissive stance and announced anti-epidemic guidelines, more than two months after Washington received warnings from China and the World Health Organization (WHO).

If the country had begun imposing social-distancing measures one week earlier, about 36,000 lives would have been saved from the pandemic, according to new estimates from Columbia University disease modelers.

People relax as they sit in circled-off areas to assure social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic in San Francisco, the United States, May 24, 2020. (Photo by Li Jianguo/Xinhua)

The researchers also estimated that if nationwide lockdowns had begun on March 1, two weeks earlier, about 83 percent of the nation's deaths would have been avoided.

"It's a big, big difference," said Jeffrey Shaman, head of the research team. "That small moment in time, catching it in that growth phase, is incredibly critical in reducing the number of deaths."

Experts also blamed Washington's disregard of early warnings and anemic response for the skyrocketing death toll, saying the U.S. pandemic handling was a work in progress-fragmented, chaotic, decentralized, and plagued by contradictory messaging from political leaders.

"You can't have an effective response to a pandemic if there isn't effective or at least interested leadership at the top," Chris Galdieri, an associate professor at Saint Anselm College, told Xinhua, adding that the White House's disinterest has crippled the U.S. response.

"The U.S. is a very powerful nation, but it has not directed its immense resources into building the kind of public health system that can be resilient in emergencies of this kind," Clay Ramsay, a senior research associate at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, told Xinhua.

A man wearing a face mask walks by a memorial for COVID-19 victims in front of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn borough of New York, the United States, May 27, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

HUMAN LIFE VS POLITICS

"More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they're doing," Obama said earlier this month. "A lot of them aren't even pretending to be in charge."

However, politicians in Washington D.C. continue to ignore the wake-up call for unity and cooperation, and politicalize the pandemic struggle over election concerns.

For example, to wear a face mask or not has been a raging question in the United States, but not one based on science or public health. Instead, it has become rooted in political identity for numerous American voters and a focus of fierce partisan fights with an eye to general elections in November.

Photo taken on May 19, 2020 shows the window of a reopened bakery amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Washington D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

Recent polls showed how strong the partisanship worked behind mask-wearing, with 75 percent of Democrats saying they wear masks when they leave home and only 53 percent of Republicans saying they take the precaution.

Besides mask wrangle, the list of controversial issues ranges from the use of Defense Production Act to produce ventilators, gun-carrying protests against stay-at-home orders, support for the WHO, to risks of quickly reopening economies.

"What has cost the United States so many lives and jobs during the pandemic is not, at root, a failure of public health. It's a failure of democracy," Litt said. "More than any political or cultural trend, more even than President Trump, our redesigned system of government is responsible for the crisis we find ourselves in today."

People wearing face masks walk through Domino Park in Brooklyn borough of New York, the United States, May 27, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

CALLS FOR COOPERATION

If the United States sought more international cooperation, its own response to the pandemic could have been better, experts say.

To shift blame to others, the Trump administration announced that it will permanently cut off U.S. funding to the WHO if the body does not commit to what he called "substantive improvements within the next 30 days."

"The saddest thing is that on previous occasions, the U.S. has been proactive in the WHO and acted as a scientific, financial and logistical contributor to solving the problem. If the U.S. had functioned this way abroad in December and January, this would have helped its response at home a great deal," Ramsay told Xinhua.

The researcher urged the United States to rejoin the world medical community and be an active partner in the WHO.

"Whether the U.S. has criticisms to make of the WHO or not, the administration's passivity and withdrawal are non-starters," Ramsay said.

A beachside restaurant is open with takeout service amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Belmar of New Jersey, the United States, May 16, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

Besides urging cooperation, a Pew poll showed Americans largely agree the United States should look beyond its borders for ideas to combat the coronavirus. Nearly half of them said the United States can learn a great deal from other countries about ways to slow the spread of the virus.

"Ultimately, it is the international cooperation and mutual support that will eventually find medicine and also vaccines. This will be an international effort, no country alone can find the way out," Cheng Li, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution, a U.S. think tank, said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Li called for more international cooperation, including cooperation between China and the United States "with a humanitarian spirit and vision," warning it would be devastating if a new cold war breaks out between the two countries, while urging the two governments and the whole world to do everything to avoid it.

Behind the grim milestone of 100,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States, there are tens of thousands of grieving families, Li noted, adding the death toll continues to rise across the country and globally, which poses enormous humanitarian challenges.

"We do need empathy and perspective-taking more than anything else in the fight against the pandemic," said the Brookings senior fellow.

(Video reporters: Tan Yixiao, Hu Yousong; Video editor: Zhu Cong)

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