*More Americans have died from COVID in two years than in all the wars of the last 120 years.
The pandemic has shown that we cannot project too far ahead. The COVID-19 virus is changing too fast, and although science is advancing by leaps and bounds, systems have too many barriers to respond at the same rate, so the disease will be on the rise for at least two more years at least.
This was told to P360P by Tung Nguyen, professor of general internal medicine and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), who detailed during a conference with the media held by Ethnic Media ServicesThe report says that almost two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, "we are far from the end.
He added that worldwide there have been more than 270 million SARS-CoV-2-positive cases and 5.3 million deaths, of which more than 51 million cases and more than 800,000 deaths have occurred in the United States, "in other words, we are responsible for one in five cases and one in six deaths.
Those numbers, he said, "is indicative of how badly we're doing," because more Americans have died from this pandemic in two years. More Americans have died from COVID in two years than in all the wars in the past including World War I and World War II.
He reminded that the 15 million who have survived COVID are not out of the woods, as the long-term consequences of the disease are not yet known. "What we do know is that many end up with persistent health problems."
Dr. Nguyen stressed that "the next wave is here," as there are more than 120,000 new cases a day, a 40 percent increase over the previous two weeks, and about 68,000 hospitalizations, a 21 percent increase over last December, which is about half of what was recorded in December 2019.
"I don't think it's good news. I think we're earlier in this wave. There are some people who are projecting that it will get to around 300,000 cases a day in the next few months," he stressed.
He added that the problem is compounded by the deficiency in the care system, as many health care providers, he said, are leaving the health care system, and those who remain are suffering from burnout and depression.
This, he said, should matter to everyone, not only to those who are sick with COVID, because people with other diseases are not receiving, nor will they receive the care they need in a timely manner.
He pointed out that the risk of contracting COVID for the unvaccinated is five times higher; and 13 times higher of dying.
"The good news is that 61 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, although disparities persist. Latinos have improved their vaccination rates, but many of the unvaccinated are young.
In that sense, he said that with the booster vaccine, there is less chance of contracting the Omicron variant.
He further explained that Americans remain the least likely to be fully vaccinated, while Latinos and Caucasians have similar rates, while Asians have the highest rates.
However, he said the gap between African-Americans, Latinos and Caucasians has closed significantly, in part, because the first two are doing a better job of getting vaccinated.
"We know that the more cases we have, the more the virus can mutate, and the more mutations there are, the more likely it is that some will escape current vaccines and treatments."
He stressed the importance of continuing to encourage people to get vaccinated and to get a booster shot, as well as to continue wearing masks indoors.
Finally, he detailed that the misinformation around the prevention and treatment of COVID has been very harmful and deadly, so it is necessary to combat this rapid spread of the virus with the rapid dissemination of good information that protects people.
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