The United States passed the threshold of one million deaths from Covid-19 this Thursday, unimaginable two years ago, thus becoming the first country in the world to cross that barrier, although experts warn that the true balance is probably higher.
Here are five things to know about the pandemic in the United States.
scary numbers
The coronavirus has killed more than 1 million Americans, around one person in 330 in the country: one of the highest death rates in developed countries (compared to around 1 in 379 in the UK or 1 in 455 in the US). France).
In total, more than 203,000 children lost a parent or caretaker in the United States, according to a study that highlights the “profound impact” of the pandemic on American youth.
At the height of the Omicron wave, the country registered more than 800,000 daily cases on average, for a total of more than 82 million infections. But that figure is likely an understatement, due in part to the lack of available tests at the start of the pandemic and the success of self-tests now, which are not systematically reported to authorities.
New York, epicenter of the first wave in the US
If the pandemic first hit the western United States, New York, the country’s cultural capital and world center located on the East Coast, later received the full impact of the virus.
The city that never sleeps became a dead city, with its deceased piled up in refrigerated trucks and deserted arteries. The wealthiest inhabitants abandoned it, while the less privileged confined themselves.
The Big Apple, which remains traumatized, has recorded more than 40,000 deaths from Covid-19 to date, most of them during the first wave in the spring of 2020.
Vaccines developed at full speed
Criticized for his slow reaction and the way he initially downplayed the scale of the catastrophe, former President Donald Trump later helped develop a vaccine by launching the “warp speed” initiative.
This operation consisted of injecting billions of dollars of public money into vaccine research, allowing pharmaceutical companies to carry out their expensive clinical trials.
The result was that the first vaccines – from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna – were emergency authorized by the US drug agency in mid-December, less than a year after the first cases were reported in China.
Masks
In the United States, a highly polarized country, few social issues have divided as much as masks or vaccines.
Between the progressives who defend physical distance, face masks and injections, and the conservatives who reject any intrusion by the authorities on their individual liberties, the battle reached the top of the State, with a Trump who barely accepted putting on the mask and a Joe Biden vaccination champion.
From schools to planes to businesses, the mask issue sparked numerous disputes, sometimes even leading to gunshots.
In the latest episode to date, a Florida judge appointed by Trump in April lifted the obligation to wear a mask on public transportation, a decision appealed by the government.
Upturn
The infection rate in the United States is rising again, possibly due to Omicron subvariants.
While it fell to 25,000 daily cases in March, the country now registers an average of about 78,000 cases in seven days, according to the main US health agency.