The United States is about to celebrate Thanksgiving. However, successive shootings, "high fever" inflation, and a new wave of COVID-19 are ready to take place, casting a shadow on this traditional festival.
Brianna Taylor, who worked in a Wal Mart supermarket in Chesapeake, Virginia, was on the night shift on the 22nd. She and her colleagues discussed the division of labor in the lounge. Unexpectedly, a nightmare suddenly came.
At about 10 o'clock that night, the night shift manager of the supermarket came to the lounge where Taylor and others were, and then shot. "I looked up and saw that the manager opened the door and shot," Taylor recalled
Taylor narrowly escaped death. The bullet was "only one or two inches (1 inch is 2.54 cm) away" from her. However, not everyone had such luck. The police in Chesapeake reported on the 23rd that the shooting incident resulted in six deaths and four injuries. The gunman used a pistol to commit murder, and then shot himself. The motive for the shooting is still unclear.
US President Biden said in a statement on the 23rd that because of another terrible and cold-blooded act of violence, more American families will have empty seats at the Thanksgiving table. Biden also talked about a "gun reform" bill he signed earlier this year, but stressed that "this is far from enough" and greater action must be taken.
This is another serious shooting incident in the United States in a few days. Late at night on the 19th, gunmen attacked a nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing 5 people and injuring 19. The latest data from the US website "Gun Violence Archive" shows that 607 serious shootings have occurred in the US this year, causing at least four deaths and injuries, and nearly 40000 people have lost their lives due to gun violence.
The continuous rampant epidemic and the unprecedented intensification of social conflicts have led to more and more people choosing to "protect themselves with guns". The two parties in the United States Congress have sharp differences on gun control. The lobbying groups representing the interests of gun manufacturers have strong political influence and other factors, causing the persistent disease of gun violence in the United States to be difficult to eradicate and increasingly into a vicious circle.
In addition to personal safety issues, many American families will frown on Thanksgiving food this year - because of inflation, supply chain problems and other reasons, the cost of Thanksgiving dinner has increased significantly.
Take the almost essential turkey on the American Thanksgiving dinner table. According to a survey released last week by the American Farmers Association, the price of buying a 16 pound (7.26 kg) turkey this year is 21% higher than last year, and the raw materials for making traditional Thanksgiving food, such as frozen pie crust, light cream, beans, are also more expensive than last year.
In the past few months, the year-on-year inflation rate in the United States has remained high, between 7% and 9%. In the 2022 mid-term elections in the United States, inflation ranked first among the issues most concerned by voters. Under the pressure of inflation, many households in the United States are tight on spending and have to be more careful than in the past holiday season. Roger Crane, chief economist of the American Farmers' Association, analyzed that the general inflation weakening the purchasing power of American consumers was also one of the important factors that increased the cost of Thanksgiving dinner this year.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the United States, will leave office next month. He attended the White House press conference for the last time, leaving a suggestion: "This may be the last message I send to you from this rostrum... In order to protect yourself, your family and your community, please vaccinate the upgraded COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible if you meet the conditions."
Fauci said frankly that sharp political and ideological differences in the United States led some people to refuse to vaccinate for reasons other than public health. "As a doctor, I feel painful". If there is another "surge" of COVID-19 cases in the United States this winter, those who have never been vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine will be at the greatest risk.
American public health experts have previously warned that the COVID-19 in the United States may usher in a new wave of "surge" cases this autumn and winter. We should not only be careful about the accelerated spread of the new subtype of the Omicron virus strain in the United States recently, but also be alert to the superimposed threat of COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, which will cause serious pressure on the medical system.
William Shafner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University in the United States, pointed out that Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holiday celebrations, as well as travel and close contact between people, usually become "accelerators" of virus transmission, because people stay together for a long time during the festival, creating an ideal environment for respiratory tract virus transmission.
In the United States, people celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November every year. This year, under the threat of continuous shooting, inflation and a new round of epidemic, the American people may have a difficult Thanksgiving.