U.S. on cusp of marking at least 100K deaths from virus
Artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada works on a 20,000 square foot mural of a healthcare worker near the Queens Museum, back left, and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, back center, in the Queens borough of New York, Wednesday, May 27, 2020. The mural is to honor those who lost their lives during the coronavirus pandemic, especially minority healthcare workers. The portrait was inspired by Dr. Ydelfonso Decoo, an immigrant doctor who died from coronavirus complications while serving hard-hit communities of color. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Luis Lopez gives a hair cut to Marty Broser behind a plastic curtain at Orange County Barbers Parlor, Wednesday, May 27, 2020, in Huntington Beach, Calif. Orange County Barber shops and salons were allowed to open today. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Stranded Colombians sleep inside the Sao Paulo international airport while flights are severely limited during the COVID-19 pandemic in Guarulhos, Brazil, Wednesday, May 27, 2020. Hundreds of people, including migrants who have lost their jobs and tourists, have been living inside the airport, waiting for humanitarian flights to leave Brazil. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
Signs stand at the lines to the lift at the reopening of Arapahoe Basin Ski Resort, which closed in mid-March to help in the effort to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, Wednesday, May 27, 2020, in Keystone, Colo. The ski area is the only one in the state to take advantage of the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions by Colorado. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A man and a woman demonstrate dining under a plastic shield Wednesday, May 27, 2020 in a restaurant of Paris. As restaurants in food-loving France prepare to reopen, some are investing in lampshade-like plastic shields to protect diners from the virus. The strange-looking contraptions are among experiments restaurants are trying around the world as they try to lure back clientele while keeping them virus-free. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Students wearing face masks as a precaution against the new coronavirus, walk to their classrooms while maintaining social distancing after they attend the entrance ceremony at Chungwoon elementary school in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 27, 2020. More than 2 million high school juniors, middle school seniors, first- and second-grade elementary school children and kindergartners were expected to return to school on Wednesday. (Lee Jin-wook/Yonhap via AP)
A child has sanitizer put on her hands upon her arrival at an elementary school in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 27, 2020. More than 2 million high school juniors, middle school seniors, first- and second-grade elementary school children and kindergartners were expected to return to school on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
People stop to look at the fountains at Caesars Palace hotel and casino along the Las Vegas Strip devoid of the usual crowds during the coronavirus pandemic, Tuesday, May 26, 2020, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A worker and a customer wearing face masks to protect against coronavirus interact inside a jewellery shop in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, May 27, 2020. Flags are flying at half-staff on more than 14,000 public buildings in Spain as the European nation holds its first of 10 days of national mourning for the victims of the coronavirus. The 10-day period is the longest national mourning declared in Spain since the restoration of democracy in the late 1970s (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A member of medical personnel, wearing a full protective equipment, takes a mouth swab sample from a driver to be tested for coronavirus COVID-19 in a drive-in station in Luxembourg, Wednesday, May 27, 2020. Luxembourg has launch on Wednesday a nation wide coronavirus testing campaign among its population and commuters. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
People sit on a terrace in a beach where access is no allowed in that time slot, in Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. Roughly half of the population, including residents in the biggest cities of Madrid and Barcelona, are entering phase 1, which allows social gatherings in limited numbers, restaurant and bar service with outdoor sitting and some cultural and sports activities. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Customers walk along Portobello Road Market in London, Wednesday, May 27, 2020. Following the gradual easing of the COVID-19 lockdown, street markets will be allowed to reopen in Britain from Monday onwards. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
A family sits by the side of a road selling local vegetables in Kohima, capital of the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland, Wednesday, May 27, 2020. The state, which was a green zone until earlier this week, now has 9 COVID-19 positive cases. An uptick in cases has been reported in some of India’s northeastern states as migrant workers and students returning to native villages from India’s largest cities have begun arriving home on special trains. (AP Photo/Yirmiyan Arthur)
A man who works transporting merchandise for vendors and shoppers wears a mask due to the new coronavirus pandemic at a fish market in the Villa Maria del Triunfo district on the outskirts from Lima, Peru, Wednesday, May 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
People hold a minute of silence for the victims of COVID-19 at Sol square in downtown Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, May 27, 2020. Flags are flying at half-mast on more than 14,000 public buildings in Spain as the European nation holds its first of 10 days of national mourning for the victims of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States was on the cusp of marking at least 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus, a once-unthinkable toll that now appears to be just the beginning of untold misery in the months ahead as Las Vegas casinos and Walt Disney World make plans to reopen, crowds of unmasked Americans swarm beaches and public health officials predict a resurgence by fall.
The stark reality comes as only half of Americans said they would be willing to get vaccinated if scientists are successful in developing a vaccine, according to a new poll released Wednesday from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, issued a stern warning after viewing video showing Memorial Day crowds gathered at a pool party in Missouri.
“We have a situation in which you see that type of crowding with no mask and people interacting. That’s not prudent and that’s inviting a situation that could get out of control,” he said during an interview Wednesday on CNN. “Don’t start leapfrogging some of the recommendations in the guidelines because that’s really tempting fate and asking for trouble.”
After months of lockdowns in countries around the world, places have begun reopening in stages. Mediterranean beaches and Las Vegas casinos laid out plans to welcome tourists again. Churches began opening up. And humans restless at being cooped up indoors for weeks began venturing outside in droves, often without practicing safe social distancing or wearing protective coverings.
Summertime is already a time when more people head outdoors. This year, it also means the every-four-years national political conventions in the United States where the two major political parties anoint a presidential candidate.
The events generally draw thousands of delegates and others who converge for several days. Fauci said it's too early to say whether this year's conventions should be held as normal.
“If we have a really significant diminution in the number of new cases and hospitalizations and we’re at a level where it’s really very low, you might have some capability of gathering,” he said. "But I think we need to reserve judgment right now, because we’re a few months from there. Hopefully we will see that diminution. If we don’t, then I would have significant reservation about that.”
And other public health experts cautioned that even more death is in the offing.
“Despite the terrible losses seen and the many difficulties Americans have faced to date in this pandemic, we’re still probably only in the early stages,” said Josh Michaud, associate director of global health policy with the Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington. “In the U.S. we could be looking at a long pandemic summer with a slow burn of cases and deaths. There’s also reason to be concerned about a new wave of infections in the fall. So, we’re definitely not out of the woods yet.”
South Korea announced a spike in new infections and considered reimposing social distancing restrictions, revealing the setbacks ahead for other nations on the road to reopening. That country reported 40 newly confirmed cases — the biggest daily jump in nearly 50 days.
All but four of the cases were in the densely populated Seoul region, where officials are scrambling to stop transmissions linked to nightclubs, karaoke rooms and a massive e-commerce warehouse. All were reopened last month when social distancing measures were relaxed.
Worldwide, the virus has infected nearly 5.6 million people and killed over 350,000, including about 170,000 in Europe, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University of government reports, which experts say does not show the entire scope of the pandemic. As of Wednesday afternoon, the official tally of deaths in the U.S. stood at 99,674.
In the U.S., President Donald Trump several months ago likened the coronavirus to the flu and dismissed worries that it could lead to so many deaths. The administration’s leading scientists have since warned that as many as 240,000 Americans could die in the country's outbreak.
According to the AP-NORC poll, about half of Americans said they would get a COVID-19 vaccine if scientists working to create one succeed.
The poll found 31% simply weren’t sure if they’d get vaccinated. Another 1 in 5 said they’d refuse. Among Americans who say they wouldn’t get vaccinated, 7 in 10 worry about safety.
“I am not an anti-vaxxer,” said Melanie Dries, 56, of Colorado Springs, Colorado. But, “to get a COVID-19 vaccine within a year or two ... causes me to fear that it won’t be widely tested as to side effects.”
Among those who want a vaccine, the AP-NORC poll found protecting themselves, their family and the community are the top reasons.
“I’m definitely going to get it,” said Brandon Grimes, 35, of Austin, Texas. “As a father who takes care of his family, I think ... it’s important for me to get vaccinated as soon as it’s available to better protect my family.”
Most people who get COVID-19 have mild cases and recover. However, the coronavirus has been seen attacking in far stealthier ways — from blood clots to heart and kidney damage.
Whatever the final statistics show about how often it kills, health specialists agree the new coronavirus appears deadlier than the typical flu.
Worldwide, about a dozen COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in early stages of testing or poised to begin.
Comparing how the virus has impacted different countries is tricky, given varying levels of testing and the fact that some coronavirus deaths can be missed. According to figures tracked by Johns Hopkins University, the death rate per 100,000 people is lower in the U.S. than Italy, France and Spain but higher than Germany, China, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.
“The experience of other countries shows that death at that scale was preventable,” Kaiser Family Foundation's Michaud said. “To some extent the United States suffers from having a slow start and inconsistent approach. We might have seen a different trajectory if different policies were put into place earlier and more forcefully.”
Countries with low death rates suppressed the virus “through lots of testing, contact tracing and policies to support isolation and quarantine of people at risk,” Michaud said.
The White House said the president was committed to holding a Fourth of July celebration in the nation’s capital even as local officials warned that the region — one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus — will not be ready to hold a major event so soon.
SeaWorld and Walt Disney World plan to reopen to undisclosed limited numbers of tourists in Orlando, Florida, in June and July after months of being shuttered. The plan calls for SeaWorld to open to the public on June 11. Disney plans a tiered reopening, with Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom opening on July 11, followed by Epcot and Hollywood Studios on July 15.
U.S. officials are pushing hard to reopen even as more than a dozen states are still seeing increasing new cases.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak announced that casinos can reopen on June 4 after a 10-week shutdown, welcoming tourists to the gambling mecca of Las Vegas. Sisolak had planned to make the announcement at a news conference but scrapped the live event after he learned he was potentially exposed to the virus at a workplace visit.
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Johnson reported from Washington state and Pane reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.
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Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
