Sunday, December 13, 2020

Another Grim Milestone

 It was one of those moments which snuck up on me because I was preoccupied with the current political circus, but the United States surpassed three hundred thousand COVID-19 deaths.  The real horror of this current surge of coronavirus infection is that Intensive Care Units in hospitals around the country are filling up.  The latest surge has added over two hundred thousand new cases, with over two-thousand deaths per day, even as a vaccine rollout is underway.  If only people could have held out a little longer before congregating for holidays and MAGA marches, things wouldn't have gotten so out of control.

 Back in March, I predicted that at least half-a-million people would die from this pandemic before it ran its course.  I think we will reach that threshold around the one year anniversary of the virus hitting our shores... and I wish I had been wrong.  I didn't even anticipate the anti-mask, anti-social distancing, and soon-to-come anti-vaccine backlashes when I made that prediction.

The true damage of COVID-19 isn't even being discussed... the number of people who will have 'recovered' with life-altering effects: diminished cardiovascular capacity, brain fog, fatigue, depression, loss of taste and smell... This is no mere flu, though the flu is nothing to diminish, either.  This pandemic will leave many individuals with long-term deficits in physical and mental health.

And a lot of the carnage could have been mitigated.  That's the real tragedy.

4 comments:

StringOnAStick said...

Covid is a strong contender for a "life before vs. life after" demarcation in modern history, like pre and post major wars have been. The fact that some patients show serious heart and/or lung damage even after a mild case means the follow on effects will last longer than most of us currently alive. Kids carry it but often show no symptoms (or it just gets folded in with typical childhood colds and sniffles); what if they end up with lifelong effects too? There's some huge possibilities that we have no way of knowing yet.

These issues make it even clearer that the tRump strategy of de facto herd immunity is genocidal evil.

The New York Crank said...

>>This pandemic will leave many individuals with long-term deficits in physical and mental health.<<

I suspect that some of the people who became infected with COVID-19 because they refused to wear masks or social distance were already suffering from some long-term mental deficits.

Yours crankily,
The New York Crank

Al said...

I accuse President Donald Trump, President elect Joe Biden, the bipartisan House of Representatives, both Democrat and Republican of deriliction of duty. Our elected officials have abandoned the American people during a national tragedy. They have impoverished and killed US citizens in order to enrich themselves and they need to be held accountable.

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

Covid is a strong contender for a "life before vs. life after" demarcation in modern history, like pre and post major wars have been.

I had a neighbor who's son-in-law had polio, and one of his legs was twisted and shorter than the other. That's the sort of sight one never forgets.

I suspect that some of the people who became infected with COVID-19 because they refused to wear masks or social distance were already suffering from some long-term mental deficits.

I think it's due to a pre-existing condition, Oppositional Defiant Disorder.

I accuse President Donald Trump, President elect Joe Biden, the bipartisan House of Representatives, both Democrat and Republican of deriliction of duty.

Biden has absolutely zero power, I don't know how you decided to lump him in. The Democrats in Congress don't want to vote on any relief bills that McConnell has put 'poison pill' riders into, such as laws prohibiting employees from suing companies that placed them in harm's way. This is not a 'both sides' issue.