US health officials say, “More than 200,000 additional deaths in two months when the mutation corona spreads”

650,000 additional deaths expected in the worst scenario
“If the mask wear rate increases, about 100,000 people decrease”

[아시아경제 이현우 기자] U.S. health officials predicted that if the spread of the COVID-19 mutant virus intensifies, more than 200,000 additional deaths will occur in the United States alone by early May. In the United States, the trend of the spread of Corona 19 appears to be gradually subdued, but as the spread of the mutant virus is rapidly unfolding, there are concerns that the Corona 19 situation will worsen again. Rapid vaccination is the key, but even in the situation of two months after the start of vaccination, only 25 million people have been vaccinated at least once, so there is a pessimistic prospect that it will be difficult to keep the pledge to inoculate 100 million people within 100 days of President Joe Biden’s inauguration. have.

According to foreign media such as CNBC, on the 31st of last month (local time), the University of Washington Institute of Health and Measurement Analysis (IHME), which makes a predictive model for Corona 19 by the U.S. government, has accumulated deaths in the U.S. until early May due to the recent spread of the COVID-19 mutant virus. In the worst case, it said that it could record 65,3671 people. Considering that the number of cumulative deaths in the United States is 440,843 in the Corona 19 statistics at Johns Hopkins University on this day, it is that up to 210,000 or more could die in a period of two months or more.

IHME said, “If the spread of the mutant virus is not taken into account, the death toll by early May is estimated to be 59,4623, and if the national mask wear rate is more than 95%, the number of people wearing a mask decreased by 30,000 to 56,3484. “I will do it” and emphasized the importance of wearing a mask again.

The spread of Corona 19 in the U.S. has passed its peak and is showing a little improvement, but the spread of the mutant virus is still unstable. According to the Corona 19 statistics at Johns Hopkins University, the number of daily corona19 confirmed in the United States peaked at over 300,000 on the 2nd of last month, but decreased to 166113 on the 29th, and to 136,200 on the 30th. The number of daily deaths also decreased to 3604 on the 29th and 2,640 on the 30th, after recording a record high of 4466 on the 12th. Inpatients also fell below the 100,000 mark in two months.

However, the spread of the mutant virus is still unabated. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of January 30, three mutations have been confirmed in 31 states in the United States, and the number of infected has increased to 437. The U.K. mutant virus has infected 434 people in 30 states, including California, with 1 in Brazil and 2 in South Africa.

However, it is estimated that there are far more people infected with the mutant virus. Professor Andrew Stanley Pekoz of the Graduate School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University said, “The corona test currently conducted in the United States does not distinguish mutations, and mutations can only be identified by specialized laboratories.” It can spread,” he pointed out.

Rapid vaccination has been suggested as the only solution, but it is still known to be poor. According to CDC’s Corona 19 vaccination statistics, the number of vaccines distributed throughout the United States until the 31st of last month was 49,993,250 doses, of which 62%, or 31,123,299 doses were completed. Of these, only 25.2 million people completed the first vaccination of the vaccine. Even in the situation nearly two months after the first vaccination was administered on December 14th, even 10% of the nation has not completed the vaccination.

CNN reported, “According to President Biden’s pledge, the plan to inoculate 100 million people within 100 days of inauguration is expected to be very difficult,” and “the Biden administration’s health authority team is still taking time to find the vaccine supply and demand status data.”

Reporter Lee Hyun-woo [email protected]