California, which has a relatively strict epidemic prevention in the United States, has now chosen to "lie flat", becoming the first state in the United States to propose downgrading epidemic prevention.
The Associated Press and CNN reported that Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, announced on the 17th local time that the state's epidemic prevention has entered a new stage and will use the "endemic" method to deal with the new crown epidemic in the future, which means that California will gradually cancel compulsory measures such as stay-at-home orders and mask orders, and choose to "live together" with the new crown virus.
California is the first state in the United States to adopt a "endemic epidemic" epidemic prevention policy, the Associated Press reported screenshot
Screenshot of CNN report
According to the Associated Press, "endemic epidemics" are diseases that occur regularly in certain regions according to established patterns, while "pandemics" are unpredictable waves of disease outbreaks around the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus a "pandemic" on March 11, 2020, but the Associated Press said health experts have long believed it would eventually become endemic.
According to the report, in the past two years of epidemic prevention practice in the United States, California's measures are relatively strict. California was the first state in the United States to introduce a stay-at-home order for all employees (March 2020), and dozens of mandatory measures including mask orders and vaccine orders have been proposed since then.
On December 17, 2021, local time, in Los Angeles, USA, people wore masks in the market. In response to the Opmi-Kerong outbreak, California reinstated the Indoor Mask Order in mid-December. The picture is from the surging image
These coercive measures were temporarily lifted when the outbreak was relatively mild. In mid-December last year, the Omikejong mutation struck, and California resumed the mandatory indoor mask order. Recently, there has been a decline in new confirmed cases in the United States, hospitalizations and severe cases, so Gavin Newsom announced that California will end the executive order on the indoor need to wear masks for vaccinators from February 16, and on February 28, it will decide when the requirement to wear masks in schools will be lifted.
According to the statistics of the New York Times, the number of new confirmed cases in the United States on the 16th was 141177, and on the same day, the number of new confirmed cases in California was 14699. Both of these one-day additions peaked in mid-January and have been on a roughly downward trend in the last 30 days.
However, the data of 140,000 new confirmed cases in the United States in a single day is still higher than that of most countries in the world. In addition, the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC News) reported on the 17th that although the confirmed case rate reported by each state has decreased, the virus transmission rate reported by about 97% of counties in the United States is still very high. And health experts warn that many Americans are tested at home through quick screening and do not report results, so the actual number of confirmed cases may be higher.
On the 17th local time, Gavin Newsom announced the downgrade of epidemic prevention, he claimed that "this virus will not disappear", it will become a "local epidemic" with the improvement of herd immunity.
"There will be no clear end to this pandemic, there will be no finish line," Gavin Newsom said, so he developed this new epidemic prevention plan to get the part of life back to normal, "let's be prepared [of the epidemic] without being paranoid, more alert to the situation around us without anxiety."
Based on two years of experience in epidemic prevention, the California government has proposed an acronym "SMARTER" to summarize the key elements of the "new plan", which represent Shots (vaccines), Masks (masks), Awareness (awareness), Readiness (preparation), Testing (testing), Education (education) and Rx (prescription drugs).
On February 17, 2022, local time, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the state will implement the first "endemic epidemic" epidemic prevention policy in the United States. Pictured from Visual China
The new plan will step up surveillance, including enhanced surveillance of viral residues in wastewater, to look for the first signs of a surge. If a more contagious virus is detected, health officials will analyze its genotype to determine if it is a new variant. In the case of a new variant, state and federal officials will determine whether to respond within 30 days.
The new plan will also increase testing and staffing in affected areas, including additional temporary medical staff support hospitals. The plan sets specific targets, such as stockpiling 75 million masks, adding 200,000 vaccinations and 500,000 tests per day, and adding 3,000 health workers to affected areas within three weeks.
In addition, access to businesses, schools and recreational facilities will no longer be mandatory to wear masks or vaccinate. For those who are unwilling or unable to get vaccinated, California will opt for other treatments such as antiviral drugs.
Mark Ghaly, California's health secretary, said part of the goal of the new plan is to ensure that businesses don't close their doors and to remove injunctions that have a greater impact on society. But he said plans to vaccinate school students this fall were not canceled.
Gavin Newsom is clearly confident in California's new plan. He believes that as the number of new covid-19 diagnoses decreases, people will wonder "are we entering a new phase" and will also be eager for "how to live with the virus without living in fear". He said other states are expected to follow California's lead soon because "people need (to let go)."
It is worth noting that in recent days, the US states of New York and Rhode Island have abandoned the mask mandatory order, and CNN believes that Illinois, New Jersey and Oregon will also do so in the coming weeks.
However, the World Health Organization believes that redefining the COVID-19 pandemic as an endemic epidemic "still has a long way to go". Catherine Smallwood, a European infectious disease expert, said in an interview in early January: "The virus is still changing rapidly and we still have a lot of uncertainty about it. ”
According to the statistics of Johns Hopkins University in the United States, as of 6:21 Beijing time on February 18, 2022, the cumulative number of confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia in the United States reached 78257062, and the cumulative number of deaths reached 930247. In the past 24 hours, there have been 108021 new confirmed cases and 2,169 new deaths in the United States.
This article is an exclusive manuscript of the Observer Network and may not be reproduced without authorization.