Europe getting alarmed over US infections
America tops 5 million confirmed virus cases
ROME — With confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. hitting 5 million Sunday, the surge of the pandemic in the most powerful nation in the world has been met with astonishment and alarm in Europe.
Perhaps nowhere outside the U.S. is America’s virus response viewed with more consternation than in Italy, which was ground zero of Europe’s epidemic. Italians were unprepared when the outbreak exploded in February, and the country still has one of the world’s highest official death tolls at over 35,000.
But after a strict nationwide, 10week lockdown, tracing of new clusters and general acceptance of mask mandates and social distancing, Italy has become a model of virus containment.
“Don’t they care about their health?” a mask-clad Patrizia Antonini asked about people in the United States as she walked with friends along the banks of Lake Bracciano, north of Rome. “They need to take our precautions. … They need a real lockdown.”
More than four months into a sustained outbreak, the U.S. reached the 5 million mark, according to the running count kept by Johns Hopkins University. Health officials believe the actual number is perhaps 10 times higher, or closer to 50 million, given testing limitations and the fact that as many as 40% of all those who are infected have no symptoms.
With America’s world’s-highest death toll of more than 160,000 people, European nations have barred American tourists and visitors from other countries with growing cases.
“I am very well aware that this impinges on individual freedoms, but I believe that this is a justifiable intervention,” German Health Minister Jens Spahn said.
President Trump has defended the U.S. response, blaming China, where the virus was first detected, and saying the U.S. numbers are so high because there is so much testing. Americans who have refused to wear masks back that line.
“There’s no reason to fear any sickness that’s out there,” said Julia Ferjo, a mother of three in Alpine, Texas, who is “vehemently” against wearing a mask. Ferjo, 35, teaches fitness classes in a large gym with open doors. She doesn’t allow participants to wear masks.
“When you’re breathing that hard, I would pass out,” she said. “I do not want people just dropping like flies.”
Trump National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, newly recovered from a bout with the virus, gave an upbeat picture Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“We’re going to fight like heck. We’re working hard on vaccines. We’re working hard on testing machines that are portable and fast. … We’re working on therapeutics,” he said. “I’m so impressed with our scientists and our doctors and our first responders and the folks who are attacking this disease, and God bless them all.”