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Travelers wearing protective face masks at the airport in Denver, Colorado, U.S., November 24,
2020. Photo by Reuters.
There were other signs that the pandemic situation was improving.
"The situation in California is getting better, with the number of patients in
ICU declining," said Ton That Binh, a Vietnamese man working in the medical
sector in San Jose.
He guessed that the state's pandemic level could move soon from purple
(widespread) to red (substantial). Under California's color code, purple is
applied for counties with more than seven daily new cases per 100,000
residents or a higher than 8 percent positivity rate; and red means four to
seven new cases per 100,000, or a 5-8 percent positivity rate.
Binh felt a key reason for the improvement was the higher numbers of people
wearing masks and following social distancing rules. Also, herd immunity may
have occurred in several areas where the number of cases was high enough.
Remarkably, Americans have not had big crowd gatherings and protests since
the inauguration of President Joe Biden, another factor leading to the
declining cases.
However, Binh also feared that the situation could be reversed in the next few
weeks because of winter storms and power cuts; and a further case reduction
could only be seen in the spring.
Quynh thought vaccination was a key factor in helping reduce infections in her
city. Not only were more and more people getting injected, people were
wearing masks everywhere and working more from home.
Ninh also believed that the pandemic situation was gradually coming under
control, with the "anti-mask attitude" no longer mainstream as it was last year.
The Biden's administration is boosting scientific support for the community,
she felt.
In Illinois, Nguyen Trung, with the University of Chicago, presumed that the
smaller number of infections was an outcome of fewer people traveling after
the Christmas and New Year holidays at the end of last year.
He said the habit of wearing masks and washing hands frequently has
improved his family’s health, no one getting sick recently. In general, people's
voluntary actions were the most important factor in containing the Covid-19
pandemic, Trung said. Some were complying with the rules because they do
not want violations listed on their CV, reducing their employment chances
later, he added.
He suffered fatigue, headache and nausea after the first shot and a mild fever
after the second one. The symptoms lasted for about 24 hours.
Since then, he was "confident that the vaccine will bring positive results in
Covid-19 controlling in the U.S."
Most states in the U.S. are giving vaccination priority to people on the frontline
in the Covid-19 fight, including medical staff, police and people over 65.
Quynh in Missouri said she felt good after receiving two doses except for achy
muscles on the arm that received the shot. She did acknowledge that others
have had more serious side effects depending on their physical condition.
Ninh, who has had one dose, felt grateful for the advancement of science and
hoped that the second shot next week would be fine for her. She has never had
any allergic reactions to medicines before, she said.
In California, Binh noted that vaccinated people still carry the risk of
transmitting the virus, so they should use masks and keep distance from
others. These are critical measures in reducing infection cases, while vaccines
help to decrease the number of deaths, he said.
"If vaccines do not have long-lasting effects, the early economic opening up
could be counter-productive."
Ninh described the situation in the U.S. as "a light at the end of the tunnel" as
the administration boosted the vaccination program to achieve real herd
immunity in the near future. She looked forward to normal life returning
before Christmas this year as President Biden has forecast.