Ramin Mazaheri
Press TV, Chicago
Parts of the United States have declared an end to pandemic restrictions even though the daily death toll remains near the peak seen last spring.
Combined with the appearance of new corona variants, many are predicting a third deadly surge which would further devastate a nation that combines the developed world’s worst health care system with the least healthy citizenry.
The United States recently passed over a half-million deaths, but their deaths per one million people is five times the global average. Only a handful of major countries have such a high fatality rate and all of them are in the West.
In the United States, the de facto mass quarantine provided by so-called “lockdowns” were first enforced not to avoid deaths but because the nation collectively admitted that their underfunded health care system would have been quickly overwhelmed.
Almost one year after a national emergency was declared, the health care system has not been drastically resupplied or overhauled. President Joe Biden, unlike a majority of Americans, refuses to support a universal health care system, something that would drastically improve health care access for the lower classes and reduce the national fatality rate.
Many wonder if the country’s overstressed and underpaid health care workers may be the next link to break in the national medical chain.
The creation of vaccines has allowed the US to set a goal of vaccinating all adults by mid-May. However, polls show that 40 percent of the nation does not want to get vaccinated, which increases the likelihood of continued corona carnage.