As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage out of control in the United States and other parts of the world, the U.S. added another “first” to its sad handling of the pandemic. According to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, for the fourteen day period ending November 10, 2020, the United States had recorded 1,406,028 new cases in the last fourteen days — more than 100,000/day. No other country has ever recorded this level of new cases in a fourteen day period. So a brief summary of “firsts” for the United States follows — the U.S. has recorded the most deaths since the beginning of the pandemic of any country; the U.S. has recorded the most new cases since the beginning of the pandemic; the U.S. has recorded the most new cases in any given day; and now, the U.S. has recorded the most cases in a fourteen day period.
In addition, hospitalizations in the U.S. are back where they were at the initial peak in the spring (around 60,000 but still increasing) and deaths are mounting again, topping 1,000 for a number of days in a row.
In an environment in which the Trump Administration appears to be simply waiting for vaccines and therapeutics to become available but not pushing other measures, President-elect Biden announced a coronavirus task force yesterday and outlined his plan for addressing the pandemic in the U.S. after he takes office on January 20. He also asked U.S. citizens to follow the science by wearing masks, social distancing, limiting gatherings and more. The governor of Utah, faced with challenges in Utah’s hospitals issued a statewide mask mandate. With the problems facing most states continuing to escalate, it is likely that more state-level actions will occur in the coming days.
Pfizer’s announcement that preliminary results from its third round testing of its vaccine showed greater than 90% effectiveness is obviously encouraging. It is understood that Moderna’s vaccine in trial is based on a similar approach to Pfizer’s. And there are many other vaccines in stage three trials. So we are likely very close to approval of one or more vaccines with significant availability increasing as 2021 proceeds. However, the U.S., Europe and certain other parts of the world are in for a deadly fall and winter.
Terence Stewart, former Managing Partner, Law Offices of Stewart and Stewart, and author of the blog, Current Thoughts on Trade.
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