The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 30.2 million on Saturday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.
U.S. COVID-19 case count rose to 30,218,004, with a total of 548,825 deaths, as of 19:29 Eastern Standard Time (EST), according to the CSSE tally.
The untamed pandemic has brought huge impact on the U.S. economy and there is a surge of people struggling to make ends meet.
Local media reported that the number of the unemployed and people living on relief fund has skyrocketed amid the continuously worsening pandemic despite many a rescue plan enacted. Multiple charity organizations said they are running out of capacity as there are too many people applying for relief.
In New York, the largest food pantry namely La Jornada in Flushing, Queens is overwhelmed by demand.
Pedro Rodriguez, La Jornada’s founder and executive director, said that the food pantry has been aiding over 12,000 households living in the community weekly since the outbreak of COVID-19 last year, which is stressful as they started by helping only 25 per week.
He said that they feel powerless as there are more and more people coming to get food and the line is stretching down for 20 blocks, but the organization is falling short for food supplies.
It is pointed out by local media that it’s not a long-term solution to the social problems by depending solely on charity organizations. Bringing the pandemic under control is the only way to get society functioning again.
(Reuters)
