A woman jogs through a mostly empty Meridian Hill Park on April 1, 2020 in Washington, DC (AFP)
WASHINGTON: The United States is gearing up literally on a war-footing to take on the coronavirus pandemic after President Donald Trump warned of a “very, very painful” two weeks ahead while conceding that up to 240,000 Americans could die even in a best case scenario with a total lockdown in place.
New York City, the US epicenter of the pandemic, is down on its knees. Its death toll has doubled to 4000 in just three days, illustrating the speed and ferocity of the virus. Field hospitals have been opened up in Central Park and the US Open tennis arena. A naval hospital ship with 1000 beds has steamed into the harbor, and more than 2,000 nurses, 500 paramedics and emergency medical technicians, and 250 ambulances have converged on the city from across the country for the battle against Covid-19, part of the new war on terror.
Other US cities, from Chicago and Detroit to New Orleans, from Atlanta to San Francisco, are gearing up for similar upcoming crisis, with city and state officials beseeching people to avoid socializing and shutter down. Top US health officials said on Wednesday that without any proven medication or vaccine against the virus, the best prescr