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United Nations Secretary General António Guterres called the Covid-19 pandemic the “number one threat to global security in our world today.” After marked declines, new coronavirus cases have come roaring back in Europe, while the U.S. death toll nears 200,000.
An unusual late-summer snowstorm that hit the Rocky Mountains this month exacerbated the deadly flames by acting as a bellows all along the West Coast. One Oregon fire grew from just 500 acres to more than 131,000 acres overnight, killing four, including a 13-year-old boy and his grandmother.
In recorded interviews for a new book in February, President Trump described the coronavirus as “deadly stuff.” Then he told the public the country was in “good shape” and the virus was ''under control.'' In a follow-up taped interview with journalist Bob Woodward, Trump admitted he had deliberately played down the Covid-19 threat.
More than 200 campers in California’s Sierra National Forest had to be rescued by helicopter when a wildfire cut off the only road out of the popular recreation area.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has asked states to prepare to distribute coronavirus vaccines by November 1, prompting hopes of an effective defense against Covid-19, but also suspicion that the process is being rushed to influence the November elections.
Stephen Hahn, the head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said he would authorize a coronavirus vaccine before Phase Three clinical trials were complete if the benefits outweigh the risks, but denied that he would rush the process to benefit Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.
The CDC has come under heavy attack over revised guidelines for coronavirus testing that say even people who know they have been exposed to an infected person don’t need to be tested if they aren’t showing symptoms.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given emergency authorization for the use of convalescent plasma in treating people sick with Covid-19. In a press release, the FDA described the treatment as “Another Achievement in Administration’s Fight Against Pandemic.”
While new coronavirus infections in the U.S. have trended downward in recent days, the average of new daily cases in five major European cities has more than doubled since the end of July. Even with the recent uptick in Europe, the seven-day average of new cases in the U.S. is about five times the number across Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the U.K.
In recent years, healthcare professionals have all had to deal to some degree with patients who have been misled by online medical information—or “Dr. Google”—but the problem has reached a fever pitch during the coronavirus pandemic.
