The EU has a 78% vaccination rate and a 52% booster rate. Mask usage in public places is generally very high. The EU never turned vaccination and masks into divisive political and cultural issue.
All of this compares very favourable to the US where vaccination is 65% and boosters are 31%. Plus vaccination, mask usage and lockdowns became deeply decisive topics, substantially reducing the effectiveness of all of them. In the end it’s place the US in bad spot for resolving the the pandemic quickly.
> Mask usage in public places is generally very high.
Not anymore. In Hamburg, nobody wears a mask, even in the supermarkets in the busiest hours, even though during the big pandemic spikes almost everybody wore it properly.
All of this compares very favourable to the US where vaccination is 65% and boosters are 31%. Plus vaccination, mask usage and lockdowns became deeply decisive topics, substantially reducing the effectiveness of all of them. In the end it’s place the US in bad spot for resolving the the pandemic quickly.