Optimism is spreading in the US as COVID-19 deaths decline and conditions ease restrictions and open vaccinations to younger adults. But across Europe, fear is spreading with another wave of infections that is closing schools and cafes and bringing new blockages.
The divergent ways of the pandemic on the two continents may be related in part to the much more successful launch of the vaccine in the US and the spread of more contagious variants in Europe.
US health experts, however, say what is happening in Europe should serve as a warning against ignoring social distance or giving up other guarantees too soon.
“Each of these countries has had bait like the ones we have now, and each has taken an upward trend after ignoring known mitigation strategies,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “They just took their eyes off the ball.”
The result has been a sharp rise in new infections and hospitalizations in several European countries over the past few weeks.
The rate of new COVID-19 cases in Poland has more than doubled since February, straining its health care system and leading to a three-week nationwide deadlock, announced Wednesday for shopping malls, theaters, galleries and sports centers.
Italy has closed most of its classrooms earlier this week and large areas where restaurants and cafes can only do delivery or delivery. Health experts in the country say they are seeing an increasing number of middle-aged and younger patients.
In France, officials have imposed weekend blockades around the French Riviera in the south and the English Channel in the north and are preparing new restrictions for the Paris region and probably to be announced on Thursday.
Patients with COVID-19 occupy 100% of the standard intensive care hospital beds in the area surrounding the nation’s capital.
“If we do nothing, we are headed for catastrophe,” Remi Salomon, a senior official at the Paris Public Hospital, told BFM television.
Serbia has announced a nationwide blockade for the rest of the week, closing all non-essential stores and businesses. The country of 7 million people reported more than 5,000 new cases on Tuesday, the highest number in recent months.
The trends are much more encouraging in the US, which recorded about 537,000 deaths overall, more than any other country.
Deaths per day in the US fell to an average of just under 1,300, down from a high of about 3,400 two months ago. The new cases amount to about 55,000 a day, on average, after reaching a peak of more than a quarter of a million a day in early January.
An empty hallway and a row of unused face shields inside the closed COVID-19 ICU unit at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, California, tell the story of improved prospects in the US
Wing full of patients at the beginning of the year.
“It gives me goosebumps. It’s really surreal, because, you know, a month and a half ago, our unit was full of super sick COVID patients, many of whom didn’t survive, “said ICU nurse Christina Anderson.
The European Union’s global vaccination efforts are far behind those in the United Kingdom and the United States due to shortages and other obstacles. About 1 in 5 people in the US have received at least one dose, while in most European countries it is less than 1 in 10.
In another disturbing turn, many European countries – including Germany, France, Spain and Italy – have suspended the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. about reports of dangerous blood clots to a small number of recipients, although regulators say there is no evidence that the shooting is to blame.
Many European countries have not been vaccinated fast enough to stay ahead of more contagious variants, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore, Maryland. These variants are also in force in the USA
“Vaccination without a speed limit, 24/7, is what will protect us from what is happening in Europe,” Adalja said.
Adalja said he believes it is too early for states to give up mask mandates, but that restaurants and other places may start to increase capacity gradually.
“You don’t have to do what Texas did,” Adalja said. “You can increase capacity while keeping masks in place”
Texas and several other states have raised their statewide mask requirements or plan to do so soon, while governors in more than half of the states have moved to ease further restrictions in the coming weeks. This includes allowing more people in restaurants, gyms and cinemas.
Meanwhile, airlines have had the best weeks since the pandemic began and say more people are booking flights for spring and summer.
Josh Michaud, associate director of global health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington, said optimism should also come with caution.
“The rapid relaxation of Europe’s distancing requirements in many places, combined with populations lowering their guard as they look at the light at the end of the long pandemic tunnel, has helped set the stage for current growth,” he said.
The lesson for the United States, he said, is to keep vaccinating those at risk as soon as possible, to keep an eye on the options, and to “keep slowly and steadily easing the demands of social distancing.”
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California Associated Press video journalist Eugene Garcia and AP reporters from across Europe contributed to the report.