US steps up the fight against COVID-19

The nearly 80,000 COVID-19 infections per day that continue to be counted in the United States are putting state administrations responsible for combating the pandemic on alert. Some state and local governments are tightening security measures. President Joe Biden himself is announcing federal measures to curb the pandemic. 

Scientists are worried about the delta variant, which is proving to be more contagious than the previous ones. In New York City it has been decreed that all civil servants must prove that they are vaccinated in order to be able to work. An estimated 300,000 people are affected. Similar decisions are being implemented in other cities.

Also of concern is the child population, so far very difficult to immunise and to ensure that schools comply with safety standards. Biden has given instructions to combat the disease at its roots and vaccines are already being produced in smaller doses to be injected into children with needles that are thinner and shorter than those used for adults.

The continuing tension since the end of Donald Trump's pre-election, destabilising campaign is also having an impact on the pandemic and measures to eradicate it. Three states governed by Republicans sympathetic to the former president, Utah, Arizona and South Carolina, are on the verge of losing public health management powers as a result of their poor compliance with general regulations.