COLUMBUS – A sobering milestone and a dire warning.
Thursday brought two reminders that the COVID-19 pandemic still has a grip on Ohio and the rest of the world.
Following a call from Pres. Joe Biden, Gov. Mike DeWine has ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff on throughout the state until sunset on Monday in honor of the more than one million American who have lost their lives to COVID-19.
“Today we mark a tragic milestone here in the United States,” Biden said, marking the one millionth U.S. death of the pandemic, now in its third year.
In Ohio, 38,550 people have died since the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in March 2020.
The state also reported 15,970 cases during the past week, almost double the number 3 weeks ago, an indication that the disease still has the capacity to spread despite vaccines.
“This pandemic isn’t over,” Biden told the second global coronavirus summit on Thursday, where he appealed to world leaders for a renewed international commitment to attacking COVID-19.
The new White House COVID-19 coordinator is issuing a dire warning. that the U.S. will be increasingly vulnerable to the coronavirus this fall and winter if Congress doesn’t swiftly approve new funding for more vaccines and treatments.
“I would say we’re really kind of at that deadline, and waiting much longer just puts us further and further at the back of the line,” Dr. Asish Jha said in an Associated Press interview Thursday.
Jha said in the interview that Americans’ immune protection from the virus is waning, the virus is adapting to be more contagious and booster doses for most people will be necessary — with the potential for enhanced protection from a new generation of shots.