Overly Optimistic

Just about two years ago, I predicted that a half-million Americans would die of COVID before the pandemic ran its course, whereupon my more cynical coworker responded, "I predict it will be a million." Well, I had no idea how pervasive anti-vaccine and even anti-masking attitudes would be in these here United States.

Vixen Strangely scooped me regarding the million-dead milestone, and the Worldometers website indicates, at time of writing, a US death toll of 1,002,259.  Now, THAT is what I call American exceptionalism- with all of our vaunted science and technology, we account for about a sixth of deaths worldwide.  For the record, Brazil and India, both nations in the grip of right-wing nationalist movements, are two and three in the death toll.  

It boggles my mind that my then-almost-unthinkable figure of a half-million dead Americans was so off-the-mark, and I say that as a man who lives in the region of the US hit hardest, fastest by SARS-CoV2.  Spring 2020 was a nightmare season, a period in which ambulance sirens were ubiquitous, and bodies were being buried in mass graves.  I like to think of myself as a rational person, the sort of person who keeps abreast of scientific developments, and I made the crucial error of thinking that the vast majority of Americans had similar attitudes.

Two years later, COVID (I dropped the '19' a while back, this being '22') is not beaten, despite the general trend in policies toward mask and vaccine mandates.  Here in New York, entertainers are exempt from mandates, and  schools no longer require most students to wear masks.  Still, tales of COVID infections can be read between the lines of seemingly unlikely websites, such as scented candle reviews on e-commerce pages. We're not out of the woods yet.

I'm just glad that I didn't make a wager with my coworker... though now I'm starting to think that too might have been too optimistic.