More than 100,000 new cases every day. More than 250,000 dead, with 4,000-plus dying daily.

Those are the figures the Indian government is giving out for the devastating crisis facing their country.

Experts say the numbers are likely five-to-ten times higher. The more than 700,000 Indians living in New York City are frantically searching for information on family and friends living there, and desperate to find some way to help. 

Kevin Thomas made history when he became the first Indian-American to serve in the New York State Senate. He knows what it feels like to search for word on loved ones thousands of miles away. He joined In Focus to talk about how this crisis started, what might have been done to stop it, and what he and the U.S. government are doing to try to get much-needed supplies to those on the ground fighting this. 

Thomas also points out that India creates much of the vaccine supply being sent across the world, and says that India was there for the U.S. as we were in the throes of our own COVID crisis. He says, it’s time now for the U.S. to help them.