Good morning all,
On April the 6th the US death toll from COVID was at 10,764 and as of today the toll is 63,871. Which means in 24 days 53,107 Americans have passed.
The last time I checked the world death toll was April the 1st which was at 45,497 and I rechecked today and the world wide total is 233,688. Which translates to 188,191 deaths have occurred in one month due to COVID-19.
According to NAT GEO more people have died in 4 months than the Vietnam War (58,220) and World War I (53,402). If the death toll exceeds 100K then more people would have died in a year that both wars combined. I think we are going to exceed 100K if not more and I think it will happen in this year 2020. Frankly, these numbers are stunning and in the short time that I checked out of the forum, to today, this is a sobering reality.
Now, lets look at it like this. Can you imagine going to war and within four months you lost 63,871 soldiers? Let alone 45,497 of those deaths happened in 24 days. The reaction would be absolute shock at the amount of lives lost in such a short period of time. We would question the why? How could our military sustain so many casualties in such a short period of time? Were they not equipped properly? Were they not trained properly? How is it that the greatest military in the history of the world was dealt such a sever blow? Where are the Generals and Admirals in all this? Who sent them into battle against an enemy with no intelligence to know what they were up against? Where is the President in all this? How did he let this happen on his watch? What was the plan IF this were to happen?
The answer is no; no our medical personnel were not prepared for this nor the states nor the Federal Government. No they were not equipped properly nor trained properly. And no, we as a people were not prepared for this.
The answer is yes; yes we had intelligence that this unseen enemy was ruthless and a threat to National Security. Yes, it wasn't taken seriously from the get go and yes, it is shock to our way of life.
The answer is of course the we as a society would not be able to stomach so many deaths and YES our leadership has failed us.
There was no plan. Hell there wasn't even a contingency plan. For as much as we prepare for war through training and funding our military for "normal" world wide threats, nobody planned for a threat that had no bullets or geo-political agenda. With the exception of a few scientist and doctors who said "you need to listen to me here". To which nobody did. This virus is a stone cold killer that stops at nothing in its path and does not give two hoots how many bombs you got. Or what country, political system or religious beliefs you may have. It is truly a alien force that is attacking and killing the human race with impunity.
I know it may sound like some dystopian novel that I am talking about here but it is not. This is the reality of what we are living in and the fragility of our society is being tested every day, hour and minute. Patience is at premium. The will to "win" is so overpowering that is blinding our leaders into relenting to the worship of the almighty dollar. Some politicians have clearly said that they would sacrifice lives for the "good" of the economy. This "oh well" attitude clearly shows how heartless and ignorant some people in the face of adversity and use such quips to justify their reckless (if not feckless) decisions.
In a crisis the easiest thing to do is point fingers and lay blame to give an answer as to "why" something happened. And sadly racist tendencies and xenophobia are simplest of solutions for simpletons. They disgust me and unfortunately they have been and will continue to be around till Kingdom come and when this is all over those same simpletons who survived unscathed on the backs of the brave will say "see, it was nuthin". They are cowards...the lot of them.
Its never too late to make a plan, regroup and re-take the hill. However, when your Captain is in his quarters looking at himself in the mirror and admiring how good he looks in uniform versus taking the helm, the ship sails aimlessly and the moral of the crew suffers. The result? One long boat ride to no where.
I wish I could close my eyes and wake up tomorrow knowing that every health care worker had all the ammunition they needed to fight the battle of the day, just like a soldier would. I wish IV bags were not on restriction so my wife could get her chemo medicines on a drip versus an injection. I wish my kids could walk the stage for their high school graduation and I wish I could take pictures of them for prom all deck out in gowns and tuxedos. I wish I could go to the movies and watch a good flick. Eat some popcorn and have a cold one. I wish I could go shopping at the mall for Mothers Day and then go to Mothers Day brunch. I wish I could see all of you at the Toy Solider convention. I wish a lot of things, but for right now all of that is wishful thinking and frankly I am content pouring concrete in my backyard for yet another summer project.
Its going to be 90 degrees today in San Antonio and you can still get a Margarita through the drive-thru. After todays backyard work, I think I will get a Margarita to go...take a pic...and post it here.
John from Texas
