During a White House meeting on Sept. 24 with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Joe Biden emphasized that the leaders of the world’s two most-populous democracies would be discussing ''what more we can do to fight COVID-19.''
Left unsaid by the two leaders is that the United States and India have been, during the last few months, on different trajectories in battling the COVID epidemic.
Between Aug. 1 and Sept. 27, America has suffered an incompletely-tallied 77,000 COVID deaths, from 613,000 to 690,000 fatalities, or a 13% explosion, according to Oxford University’s Our World in Data website.
By contrast, India’s death toll during the last two months rose by 23,000 deaths, or 5%, from 424,000 to 447,000.
Moreover, since Aug. 1, Americans who received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine edged up from 57% to 64%.
India’s vaccination rate jumped from 26% to 45%.
India has 1.382 billion people to America’s 333 million.
Between Aug. 1 and Sept. 27, the number of Indians who received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine skyrocketed by 271 million, from 368 million to 639 million, or 4,672,000 daily.
America’s growth during the same period was 22 million, from 192 million to 214 million, or an anemic 379,000 injections daily.
Indeed, in these two critical metrics, deaths and vaccinations, Joe Biden’s United States has performed abominably this summer, compared to the world’s other largest democracies.
Deaths in the United Kingdom since Aug. 1 increased from 130,000 to 137,000, or 5%. Vaccinations inched up from 69% to 71%, which is a significant 7-percentage points higher than America’s current 64%.
Germany’s death toll during the last two months increased from 92,000 to 94,000, or 2%. Its vaccination rate grew from 62% to 67%.
Similarly, France’s COVID fatalities inched up from 112,000 to 118,000 or 5%. Its vaccination rate rose from 63% to 74%.
Italy's death toll since Aug. 1 increased 2%, from 128,000 to 131,000. Its vaccination rate jumped from 64% to 74%.
Brazil’s fatalities rose from 557,000 to 595,000, or a 7% increase. Its vaccination rate of at least one dose soared from 49% to 70%.
During the last two months, Japan’s COVID deaths increased from 15,000 to 18,000, or 20%. But its total fatalities are just 3% of America’s 690,000.
Japan’s vaccination rate leaped from 41% to 70%.
To summarize, during the last two months: America’s 13% increase in COVID deaths is significantly worse than Brazil’s 7% increase; UK’s, India’s, and France’s 5%; Italy’s and Germany’s 2%.
While Japan’s increase was 3,000 deaths or 20%, the country's base, at 15,000 fatalities, was much, much smaller than the six other industrialized democracies, whose death tolls range from 94,000 to 690,000.
Secondly, America’s vaccination rate of 64% of at least one dose inexcusably trails Germany’s 67%; Japan’s and Brazil’s 70%; UK’s 71%; and France’s and Italy’s 74%.
America’s COVID monthly death tolls this year, reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, further demonstrate the Biden administration's egregious failure to control the epidemic during the last two months: January, 105,000 deaths; February - 48,000; March - 23,000; April - 19,000; May - 15,000; June - 8,000; July - 11,000; and August - 44,000.
While monthly deaths declined by 90% between January and July 2021, they soared by an astounding 300% between July and August.
So far in September 2021, there have been 26,000 COVID deaths, which are conservatively projected to rise to 40,000, when fully counted in late October.
This projection is based on 44,000 COVID deaths, and the 278,000 deaths from all causes in August.
So far in September, the CDC has analyzed only 134,000 deaths from all causes, of which 26,000 are classified as COVID.
In the 20 months since the first COVID deaths occurred in January 2020, monthly grim totals only exceeded 40,000 six times: April 2020 - 65,000; November 2020 - 53,000; December 2020 - 98,000; January 2021 - 105,000; February 2021 - 48,000; and August 2021 – 44,000.
On the evening before their inaugurations, President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris held a memorial service at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool commemorating the 400,000 American lives lost to COVID.
In early October 2021, the president and vice president, I anticipate, won’t be repeating this somber service for the 300,000 Americans who died from COVID during their 8-month, grossly-incompetent tenure.
If the current upward trajectory isn’t flattened, as America approaches the flu season and higher monthly fatalities, COVID deaths by January 20, 2022, the one-year anniversary of Biden’s catastrophic presidency, could increase to 400,000.
Tragically for Americans, to quote Shakespeare, Biden has been ''hoist with his own petard,'' as his campaign last year was built on the demagogic slander that President Donald Trump was failing miserably in battling the COVID epidemic.
Mark Schulte is a retired New York City schoolteacher and mathematician who has written extensively about science and the history of science. Read Mark Schulte's Reports — More Here.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.