United States President Joe Biden promised "follow science" when he replaced Donald Trump, but a year later record infections, shortage of tests and stubborn resistance to vaccines have turned one of the political strengths of his presidency into a growing drag.
Wednesday’s data with the highest number of new COVID-19 infections yet (265,427 cases averaged over seven days) underscored Biden’s powerlessness against the mutant virus.
The positive side of these alarming figures is that the omicron variant, which caused the cases to skyrocket, is highly contagious but much less deadly than the previous ones.
For this reason, although Americans and the inhabitants of many other countries are infected en masse, the consequences are milder.
As hospitalizations have only risen 11% in the United States although there are 126% more cases, the top infectious disease expert advising the government, Anthony Fauci, called the data as "encouraging".
"We must not become complacent"he told reporters Wednesday, but "all signs point to omicron being less serious".
Still, the continuing uncertainty and the sheer speed of the viral spread have been enough to wreak havoc and damage Biden politically.
There are fears that hospitals will not supply, airlines cancel hundreds of flights at one of the busiest times of the year and major sporting events may have to be cut short. With this panorama. Democrat Biden faces a winter of discontent.
Nothing to do with the hopes he raised when he took office 11 months ago, vowing to end Trump’s erratic leadership and control the pandemic.
In its first months the virus receded in such a way that Biden even dared to declare that independence would be commemorated on July 4 without covid-19.
Now, with the aftermath of the summer arrival of the delta variant and this winter’s omicron, Biden is under fire of criticism, with popularity ratings among the public below 40% and a disapproval of around 52 %.
– The tolerable –
The New York Post says that Biden may not be the culprit of covid-19 but his answer is inept.
"Bottom line: Team Biden’s hype, incompetence, hypocrisy, and lies don’t instill confidence"says the Post’s editorial on Tuesday.
The latest criticism stems from a shortage of rapid test kits, with out-of-stock pharmacies and government-run screening centers besieged by long lines of concerned people.
The administration says it is about to ship 500 million home test kits, among other measures, but Biden himself acknowledged this week that "clearly not enough".
Howard Forman, a professor at the Yale School of Public Health, told AFP that high-risk categories should be screened very often because drugs can prevent severe forms of the disease if caught early.
In "any of those high risk groups, I would test ASAP", it states.
The best defense against covid-19 is still the vaccine, however. The coronavirus-related death rate is 14 times higher for those unvaccinated compared to those who received the doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
And here Biden faces stubborn resistance, often in areas that tend to vote Republican.
Despite months of insistence and easy access to free vaccines, only 62% of the country is fully vaccinated and less than 33% have received the booster dose.
Earlier this week, the CDC cut the recommended isolation time for asymptomatic people with Covid-19 in half, from 10 to five days, a decision applauded by some companies desperate to avoid layoffs, but one that drew strong criticism. from other sectors.
Difficult to satisfy them all. In a revealing comment on Wednesday, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the decision to reduce the period of isolation was based not only on science, but also on a human and political factor. "It had a lot to do with what we thought people might tolerate"Walensky told CNN.
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