The United States is 'on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe': Texas physician
Dr. Peter Hotez, who serves as the dean of tropical medicine at Baylor University's School of Medicine warned on CNN that the United States is so overwhelmed with COVID-19 that it is approaching a humanitarian crisis.
Sunday marked the 12th day in a row in which the United States had over 100,000 new infections of the coronavirus in the country. The past week shows the increasing spike getting worse. Things have gotten so bad that Doctors without Borders, which normally helps with medical access in the third world, has dispatched physicians to the U.S.
"It's more than just heading in the wrong direction," said Dr. Hotez. "We are on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe approaching potentially 400,000 Americans who could perish by the early part of next year. Let's look at where we'll be in January when the formal transition takes place: 2,000 to 2,500 Americans will be dying every day, those are the projections."
He explained that those numbers mean the coronavirus could become the "single leading caused of death in the United States on a daily basis."
If there was ever a time that the United States needed steady leadership and a smooth transition, Dr. Hotez said it's now.
"The fact that this is the time it won't occur will only mean greater loss of life, so this is incredibly heartbreaking," he said.
The good news is that things are going to get better. By the end of next year, most Americans will be vaccinated against the virus and can finally return to life as usual. The tragedy is in trying to keep people from spreading it until then. As has become clear, Americans are willing to risk their lives and the lives of everyone around them to do whatever they want.
See the interview below: