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US President Joe Biden in the White House
Photo: JIM WATSON / AFP
The delta variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in the United States.
However, this does not apply equally to all states.
Experts draw a direct link between a low vaccination rate and many new infections.
US President Joe Biden has now also taken up this connection - and attacked some Republican governors for their corona policy.
"If you're not helping, at least avoid people who are trying to do the right thing," Biden demanded on Tuesday afternoon (local time).
He explicitly named two US states as negative examples.
"Only two states, Florida and Texas, are responsible for a third of all new Covid-19 cases in the entire country."
In some states, the mask requirement is forbidden in schools, complained Biden.
In Texas, universities could even be fined for teachers asking unvaccinated students to wear a mask.
The two Republican governors Greg Abbott from Texas and Ron DeSantis from Florida have recently spoken out particularly loudly against a mask requirement in their states and even banned it.
"Use your power to save lives," Biden said.
“We need leadership from everyone.
And some governors are unwilling to do what is right to fight this pandemic. "
Biden calls Covid a "preventable" disease
There are still around 90 million people who are eligible to vaccinate but have not yet received a single injection, he warned.
Vaccinated people would only very rarely become infected with corona, have to go to hospital even more rarely and almost never die from the consequences of the infection.
In the states with a lower vaccination rate, the rate of infections is "ten to twenty times as high" as in the states with the highest vaccination rate, according to the US President.
The virus is spreading "like wildfire among the unvaccinated".
This is "heartbreaking" - especially because Covid-19 is now a "preventable" disease thanks to the vaccinations, said Biden.
Express praise to corporations
Biden explicitly praised public and private employers who have made vaccination compulsory for their employees.
This is not an easy step, but he will support the companies and authorities in this, the Democrat promised.
He also wanted to thank companies like Google, Netflix, Disney and Walmart, he added.
Others have declined to step up their efforts.
"I find that disappointing," said Biden.
The US government announced last week that its employees - there are several million nationwide - will in future either have to prove their vaccinations or have themselves regularly tested for an infection.
In June, the number of new infections in the US had dropped to an average of around 10,000 per day.
Since then, however, this value has risen again to an average of 80,000 per day due to the particularly contagious delta variant.
jok / dpa
