British media commented on the tragedy of the US epidemic: "not only the failure of the medical system, but also the failure of ideology" - part 2

British media commented on the tragedy of the US epidemic: "not only the failure of the medical system, but also the failure of ideology"

One area of health care where the United States spends significantly less than other countries is long-term health care, including nursing homes. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the country spent $516 per person on long-term health care in 2018, less than half of what other similar countries spent.

The pandemic has exposed these gaps. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and prevention, about three-quarters of Americans who died of COVID-19 were 65 years old or older, including more than 150000 people living in nursing homes.

Most nursing homes in the United States - more than two-thirds - are for-profit institutions. They often give employees low wages, understaffed, and the turnover rate of employees is very high. According to a study, the median salary of nursing assistants and nurses in the United States in 2020 was $14.82 per hour, and the median turnover rate of nursing staff in 2017 and 2018 was 128%.

Dr. Selena Gondel, an epidemiologist at New York University and special editor of Kaiser health news, said that due to insufficient manpower, some nursing homes failed to adopt best practices for infection control.

Nearly half of the assistants and personal caregivers in nursing homes are black or Hispanic. According to a report by an economist at Harvard University, when the staff of nursing homes come from "not so white" communities, the number of people infected by the COVID-19 is more, probably because these communities are more densely populated and residents rely more on public transport.

Americans are also less likely to have primary care workers, leading to a higher death toll in the United States. Dr. David bruxel, the president of the national primary care foundation, said: "there are too few primary care doctors in the United States who like vaccination. But they know that there is an important factor in primary care."

The United States also lags behind other rich countries in vaccination coverage - the result is due to the low vaccination rate of Republicans. "We cannot distinguish our failure in this pandemic from ideological and political conflicts," Blumenthal said.

The then president trump contracted novel coronavirus in October, 2020, but he wrote on Twitter: "don't be afraid of novel coronavirus. Don't let it dominate your life."

Rosner said this contrasted him with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. After being hospitalized with novel coronavirus, Johnson said the NHS had "no doubt" saved his life.

"This is not to say how well [Johnson] did, but he admitted that he had to believe in medicine, public health and the medical system, and trump didn't think it was necessary," rosener said.