One Million Of Us...And We're Poorer For It
It didn't have to be this way
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.
John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, "Meditation XVII"
We’ve lost one million people to the COVID-19 pandemic over the space of the past two-plus years. One million sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, daughters, mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, friends, lovers, co-workers, and teammates. That’s one out of roughly every 330 Americans. Any way you choose to break it down to provide perspective, that’s a lot of people. Since February 2020, we’ve lost the old, the young, the healthy, and the sick. We’ve lost Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.
We’ve lost Americans.
One million.
The unfortunate aspect of that number is that it didn’t have to be nearly that large. If Donald Trump hadn’t so thoroughly politicized the pandemic and the anti-vaccine crowd hadn’t spread dangerously false information, hundreds of thousands of people might be alive today.
If millions of our fellow Americans had accepted recommendations to wear masks and get vaccinated, thousands would almost certainly still be here. Of course, there’s no way to put a number on it, but there’s little doubt but that many thousands would still be alive today. The hundreds of thousands lost to willful ignorance and the refusal to believe science will be one of the saddest legacies of this pandemic.
And we’re not out of it yet.
One million.
COVID-19 has also revealed a ruthless streak of selfishness within American culture. Americans are quite willing to take care of their own but tend to draw the line at going the extra mile for someone else. They too often don’t see value in taking precautions that may benefit others outside their circle.
Wearing masks and getting vaccinated are very often done for selfish reasons (though at least they’re happening) and resisted because people don’t understand an implied responsibility to the broader community. They might believe that others have an implied commitment to the community, but they fail to see how that translates to their having a similar responsibility.
One million.
I suspect we all know people who refuse to be vaccinated. And we probably marvel at the twisted, self-absorbed logic they use to rationalize their decision. I’ve now had four vaccine shots with no issues, so when someone starts talking about adverse reactions, it’s all I can do to not laugh at them.
There are people in my own family who’ve refused to consider vaccination. I’m to the point where I will no longer discuss it with them because there’s no logical argument to support their position. They’re being selfish, ignorant, and illogical, and there’s no changing their mind. Yet they chafe at the vaccine requirements to get into public spaces like concerts and sporting events. “UNFAIR!!” they scream, but what’s really unfair is that they believe responsibility to be so one-sided.
Hey, guess what? We’re still in a pandemic. There’s nothing wrong with expecting people to do the right thing. No one can force you to get vaccinated, but if you refuse to do the right thing, there should be consequences. You don’t get to have your cake and eat it, too.
One million.
We’ve lost too many people to ignorance, stupidity, propaganda, and disinformation. We’ve buried too many because they didn’t believe- in the pandemic, in masks, in the vaccines. They made their choices, and they paid the ultimate price for choosing poorly. Doctors and scientists presented people with the information they could use to protect themselves. What people failed to recognize was the cost of arrogance and stupidity. Some might call it natural selection, and there’s arguably an element of that at work. People too often believed they knew more than doctors and scientists and chose accordingly. Unfortunately for them, they chose incorrectly. For too many, there was no second chance to come back from that first mistake.
It was more important to protect their “freedom” and “liberty” and to impugn the motives of scientists like Dr. Anthony Fauci than it was to listen to voices of science and experience. It was easier to believe it was all a Left-wing plot to enslave them than a scientific plan to save them. And so they chose stupidity and arrogance and many ultimately died horribly and painfully on a ventilator.
One million.
You say toh-MAY-toh, I say toh-MAH-toh….
Of course, no matter what happens, there are those unable to pass up an opportunity to score a few cheap political points.
“One million died WITH COVID. Not from it.” I’m not an MD, nor do I have the medical knowledge to be able to split medical hairs in the way Jesse Kelly insists. Frankly, I’m not sure he does, but I don’t believe it matters. If you’re talking about one million dead Americans, ultimately you still have one million dead Americans.
And it’s people like Kelly who are partially responsible for that number being what it is. Instead of doing what they can to help promote public health, they’ve resisted at every step. They’ve opposed masking mandates, and they’ve fought vaccines, resulting in hundreds of thousands of Americans dying needlessly.
Can I prove that definitively? Of course not. But neither can Jesse Kelly prove his assertion. All he’s interested in is making President Joe Biden look bad, something that does nothing to advance public health. And that’s the problem with the way the Far-Right has approached this pandemic. They see it as a political problem, while doctors, scientists, and rational people have seen it as a public health crisis while deliberately endeavoring to steer clear of politics.
Until and less Jesse Kelly can provide evidence to prove his assertion, I’ll stick with the information provided by scientists and public health professionals. I believe the one million number to be correct, but even if it’s not, the truth is that we’ve lost far too many of our fellow Americans- and isn’t that the real tragedy?
One million of us are gone. It didn’t need to be this way.
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