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U.S. Surpasses a Million COVID Deaths, and the Pandemic Isn't Over

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U.S. Surpasses a Million COVID Deaths, and the Pandemic Isn't Over

America has exceeded the grim milestone of a million lives lost to COVID-19. And political leaders are pretending the pandemic is done.

Peter Daou
May 5, 2022
11
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U.S. Surpasses a Million COVID Deaths, and the Pandemic Isn't Over

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Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

From NBC News:

The U.S. on Wednesday surpassed 1 million Covid-19 deaths, according to data compiled by NBC News — a once unthinkable scale of loss even for the country with the world's highest recorded toll from the virus.

The number — equivalent to the population of San Jose, California, the 10th largest city in the U.S. — was reached at stunning speed: 27 months after the country confirmed its first case of the virus. 

Those lives are important. The pain of their loved ones matters. We must not forget their anguish and suffering.

Twitter avatar for @BerniceKing
Be A King @BerniceKing
One million human beings gone. And that’s just in this country. Yet, some still discuss Covid with such pettiness and disregard for the lives lost. https://t.co/R3tZutn2en
Twitter avatar for @NBCNews
NBC News @NBCNews
BREAKING: U.S. surpasses 1 million Covid-19 deaths, according to data compiled by NBC News. https://t.co/IteGJQW8ZO
9:51 PM ∙ May 4, 2022
1,942Likes459Retweets
Twitter avatar for @rashaabdulhadi
rasha abdulhadi @rashaabdulhadi
Reminder: even the CDC, which has worked diligently to undercount the pandemic, estimates the real numbers are at least 30% higher. We passed 1 million deaths from Covid months ago. And none of this counts the ongoing orphaning, grief, & mass disabling of millions more.
Twitter avatar for @NBCNews
NBC News @NBCNews
BREAKING: U.S. surpasses 1 million Covid-19 deaths, according to data compiled by NBC News. https://t.co/IteGJQW8ZO
10:12 PM ∙ May 4, 2022
40Likes14Retweets
Twitter avatar for @B52Malmet
Barbara Malmet @B52Malmet
Never would I think crossing this grimmest threshold would barely get any air. That’s how far we’ve normalized #COVID. A million dead Americans that are documented, when we know there are more, and barely a ripple. I remember that Memorial Day weekend when we approached 100k. https://t.co/gFJXaToWOr
Twitter avatar for @AliAdair22
Ali Adair #DoTheRightThing 🇺🇸🌎🔥💦🌪️ @AliAdair22
🦠 1,000,000 #COVID19 deaths in the U.S. https://t.co/fmr02EfR9t
11:22 AM ∙ May 5, 2022
60Likes19Retweets

And contrary to the denial from politicians, the pandemic is far from over. According to the New York Times, “cases are rising in nearly every corner of the United States.”

Twitter avatar for @GottaLaff
Laffy @GottaLaff
It’s. Not. Over. Here we go again: California coronavirus cases rising. Is a new wave coming?
latimes.comHere we go again: California coronavirus cases rising. Is a new wave coming soon?Coronavirus cases have risen by nearly 30% in California over the last week. Hospitalizations are up, too.
2:33 PM ∙ May 2, 2022
25Likes18Retweets

From the very beginning, the U.S. government’s response to the pandemic has been criminally negligent. As I wrote recently, Trump, Biden, and their respective parties have prioritized money over lives, guaranteeing that billionaires mint money as the working class suffers and dies.

This callous capitalism has condemned the disabled, immunocompromised, and other vulnerable populations to preventable sickness and death. And it has ignored the very real and debilitating effects of long COVID.

Twitter avatar for @ahandvanish
Hannah Davis @ahandvanish
Really good piece on #LongCovid in kids. At least 500,000 US kids have LC. On top of the awful regular LC symptoms, this piece made me realize that there are kids out there who got sick at age 3-4 and might never know that food smells good 😭 bloomberg.com/news/features/…
bloomberg.comBloomberg - Are you a robot?
1:06 AM ∙ May 5, 2022
712Likes354Retweets

And lest anyone claim this is a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” the Washington Post reports that “the pandemic’s toll is no longer falling almost exclusively on those who chose not to or could not get shots, with vaccine protection waning over time and the elderly and immunocompromised — who are at greatest risk of succumbing to covid-19, even if vaccinated — having a harder time dodging increasingly contagious strains.”

And despite it all, Democrats and Republicans continue to force people to fend for themselves:

Twitter avatar for @DarrigoMelanie
Melanie D'Arrigo for NY03 @DarrigoMelanie
It is an absolute stain on our country that we have not passed #MedicareForAll after watching 1 million Americans die from #COVID19 and leaving those hospitalized with thousands of dollars in medical bills. nbcnews.com/news/us-news/c…
1:45 AM ∙ May 5, 2022
15Likes5Retweets
Twitter avatar for @Public_Citizen
Public Citizen @Public_Citizen
How can anyone watch 1,000,000 people in the U.S. die from Covid and not support Medicare for All?
9:59 PM ∙ May 4, 2022
1,788Likes395Retweets

This pandemic has been, and continues to be, a tragedy — and political travesty — at every level.

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U.S. Surpasses a Million COVID Deaths, and the Pandemic Isn't Over

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