美國新冠疫情日記07/02

How To Balance The Economy During The Pandemic

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today that total non-farm employment rose by 4.8 million in June and the unemployment rate declined to 11.1 percent with ten million eighty thousand people still out of a job. But it is a good sign for the economy.

In Texas we now have the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases at 8,076 and fifty- seven people have passed away. In the Harris County area we have almost run out of hospital beds. This is a very serious development in the southern states.

Texas was a very early state to open for business because we let the beaches, bars and restaurants open. People did not care about wearing a mask or keeping social distance and the virus came back to spread out again. As Dr. Fauci warned us, if we don’t control this pandemic, we might have 100,000 confirmed cases per day in the coming months in America. Such an horrific situation may happen to us.

Whether or not President Trump could be re-elected partly depends on the economy. The latest poll shows he is behind challenger Biden by 15 points.

The CDC today also warned that the coronavirus is still out of control around the world, especially in America.

Today we are facing so many problems. The racial issues are creating unrest in the cities. Cases like in Seattle, Washington, have seriously interrupted the local people’s lives.

We are also very glad to see that our economy is improving. But how can we balance the pandemic and the economy? This is a big problem for all of us.

             魚與熊掌 不可得兼

勞工部今天公佈全國六月份就業人數增加了480萬人，全國失業率下降至百分之十一點一， 共有一千七百八十萬人仍在待業狀態。

全國疫情目前以徳州最爲嚴峻，昨天單日就有八千零七十六人確診，目前在大休斯敦地區之醫療床位已呈飽和狀態，州長及市長皆重申停止進一步開放歩驟，並立即關閉全州之酒吧行業。

自從五月初大部分州開放經濟活動以來，全國各地之商業餐廳海岸重啓，是就業人數激增的原因 ，對于開放後立即導致疫情之反彈，更是公衞專家們最擔心的變化，並且提出嚴重警告，時間已經不多，如此下去可能會變成無法收拾之慘局。

經濟是否在近月內好轉，絕對是川普可否連任之最大關鍵所在，目前他已落後對手拜登十五個百分點，世衛組織日前也說新冠疫情目前在全世界許多地區仍然猖狂而無法全面控制中，其中百分之二十五疫情是在美國。

就目前看來，聯邦政府並無全面性之措施來對付病毒，而各州地方政府採取之措施也不盡相同， 實在也無法做到中央統一領導來貫徹措施。

非常不幸的是我們種族矛盾在社會中不斷激增，治安預算、警察守則都是急待解決之事，許多城市諸如西雅圖市民劃地爲營，擾亂市政及居民，也是最壞的示範。

我們欣見美國經濟複甦在望， 也更憂心疫情擴散，真是魚與熊掌，如何兼得？