Kumail Nanjiani on feeling 'hopeless and helpless' amid COVID-19 spike: This was preventable

The usually optimistic actor-comedian Kumail Nanjiani says he is feeling "hopeless and helpless" as the coronavirus cases surge in the US. 

In a lengthy Twitter thread on Sunday, "The Silicon Valley" star expressed his concerns over the spike in COVID-19 tally and called out the administration for not handling the pandemic responsibly. "I'm sorry. I'm generally a very optimistic person & have fought to keep positive these last few months. But today is hard. We are heading into a massive Covid spike & the people who are supposed to protect us are doing nothing & blaming us for being concerned," Nanjiani, 42, wrote. 

The actor, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, believes those in power have failed to serve its people during the pandemic.

He revealed his wife, Emily V Gordon, with whom he co-wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay for "The Big Sick", is at high risk as she suffers from Still's disease. "We've been in quarantine for 8 months because my wife is in a high risk group. We feel let down by our country. But it's not about us. We're the lucky ones. Over 226,000 people have died. That's so many families destroyed. People have lost their homes, their jobs. "And this was all preventable. I look at the Covid cases & deaths in other countries & it feels like they're in another world. Are they dealing with the same disease we are? I guess that's the difference. They're dealing with it. We're not." The US coronavirus caseload reached record heights over the weekend, with more than 83,000 infections reported in a single day. The US death toll, meanwhile, has crossed 225,000 according to the COVID-19 Dashboard published by Johns Hopkins University.

Nanjiani said he tries hard to stay positive, but there are days when it becomes difficult for him to cling on to optimism. "I feel like I work [really] hard to keep all these doors closed in my mind, to try and keep all these scary/sad/devastating thoughts out of my head. Focus on the positive. Donate to worthy causes. People are doing fantastic work out there. Most days it works. But not today." The actor urged his followers to wear masks, follow all the safety protocols and donate to those in need. "I guess I have nothing constructive to say. Just be careful out there. I'm afraid we have a couple of bad months ahead of us. And I feel hopeless & helpless today… I'm gonna try & crawl back to optimism now," he concluded. During the lockdown, Nanjiani and Gordon have been created the podcast "Staying In with Emily & Kumail" to chronicle their quarantine life and have also raised funds for charities helping those affected by the pandemic.