The United States had its first loss of life to the CoronaVirus Pandemic on February 29.
Two months later, we have lost 60,000 Americans, more than the Vietnam War loss of over 58,000 from 1963-1975.
No one could possibly have imagined such a horrifying development, something Donald Trump predicted a couple of weeks ago would be the most losses.
But clearly, we are far from the end of this crisis, with predictions that there will be a much bigger wave this fall and winter, coinciding with the seasonal Flu, and also the danger of hurricane season coming upon us soon.
This is one of the darkest moments in American history, a literal nightmare for all of us, as we will likely learn of people we know, and possibly relatives and friends, losing their lives to this pandemic!
i have two questions for You, Professor, and everybody else in the MSM who is so excited about the COVID-19 Death Toll surpassing the number of Americans killed in what the Vietnamese People term “The American War”:
1. How many Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians died in that War? Estimates range from 1.5 to 3.6 MILLION. American losses are chump change compared to what the peoples of those nations endured. Particularly given how many of those Asian fatalities were Civilian, Non-Combatants. And those numbers don’t include the numbers of those not killed, but crippled, paralyzed, orphaned, widowed or widowered, or rendered refugees in their own nations.
2. In the last two months, how many Americans have died of one of the Ten Leading Cause of Death in the United States in 2019: Heart disease, Cancer, Accidents (unintentional injuries), Chronic lower respiratory diseases, Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases), Alzheimer’s disease, Diabetes, Influenza and pneumonia, Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis, and Intentional self-harm (suicide)? Would You care to hazard even a guess?
That “more deaths than in Viet Nam” is a catchy meme, but it is essentially meaningless and totally irrelevant to what is happening now and what happened then.
Jeffrey, you have a lot of gall to state that those who point out the loss of life to the Covid-19 are “so excited”!
What a damn nerve you have! 🙁
I am fully aware of the horrific loss of life in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, and was opposed to that long war very early, I will have you know!
And yes, there are Americans who have died in the last two months, but this is the issue now, and it is NOT irrelevant or meaningless! 🙁
RF: “Jeffrey, you have a lot of gall to state that those who point out the loss of life to the Covid-19 are “so excitedâ€! What a damn nerve you have! ”
Sorry to insult You with my “nerve” and “gall,” Doc. Maybe i should have used the term “frothed” instead.
RF: “I am fully aware of the horrific loss of life in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, and was opposed to that long war very early, I will have you know!”
Well, Your and the whole anti-War crowd’s opposition to that War didn’t do much to stop or end it, did it? That War ended when North Vietnamese troops seized Saigon 45 years ago today, as a matter of fact. For You folks, it ended on May 4, 1970 at Kent State; if not in August, 1968 at Chicago. Not much at all, in fact. Any more than Y’All have stopped and ended the Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, and so forth.
RF: “And yes, there are Americans who have died in the last two months, but this is the issue now, and it is NOT irrelevant or meaningless! ”
Assuming that about as many Americans have died from those 10 Leading Causes of Death over these past two months as did in the same two months in 2019, approximately 339,000 have died, besides the 60,000 from C-19. That makes that number ~ that 339,000 ~ VERY relevant and meaningful to the whole subject under discussion here over the past several weeks.
And i didn’t say that the number of C-19 American deaths is “irrelevant and meaningless.” i said that about any comparison and relationship [other than as a handy meme] between that number and American deaths in Viet Nam. Significant difference.
IN OTHER NEWS:
[A commentary on “Debate flares over legal protections as businesses open up,” AP, 29Apr20
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The effort to reopen the economy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic has set off a conflict at the state and federal level that is escalating by the day over how much legal protection companies should get if their returning workers get sick.
The White House, governors, members of congress and state lawmakers are all getting pressured by business leaders who want to be shielded from potential lawsuits brought by sick workers. They are also feeling heat on the other side from unions that want bolstered safety at workplaces and from the influential trial lawyers lobby, which hopes to preserve legal protections to go after corporations in court if people are sickened on the job.
Continued at https://apnews.com/2e91a7747f673558df1abf8e9e802d1a%5D
re Reopening Lawsuits
There is a very simple answer to the question of whether business owners who resume suspended operations should be exempt from lawsuits by employees or customers who may become ill with COVID-19 as a result.
If those business owners are forced against their better judgment and will by the federal, state, and/or local government to re-open their businesses even tho they do not want to, then they should be exempt from all lawsuits from anyone, and protected by the government from litigation. They have, in effect and reality, become agents of the government, and should be as protected from litigation as are America’s politicians, bureaucrats, soldiers, spies, and cops.
If, on the other hand, they open their business ~ whether because they simply feel like it, or even genuinely need to in order to survive ~ then they should be held liable for any and all illnesses, injuries, and damages suffered by their employees and customers, just like they always are under normal, non-crisis situations. They should be particularly held liable if they open contrary to government dictates [or “guidance”]; and more particularly if they are the recipients of CARES Act relief, rescue, bailout, subsidy, or stimuli funds.
As regards customers: Even if government forces businesses to open, there is as yet no mandate that citizens must go to those establishments and become customers. No one will be forced against their better judgment and will to leave their homes and go shopping, and thus increase the risk of contracting C-19. At least not yet. Although one wonders if that will happen when businesses open and there are no customers because everybody has chosen to remain sheltered-in-place. Or, as Bush the Lesser put it after 9/11: “Americans need to go shopping again!!!”
As regards employees: If government mandates that businesses must open and thus, that all employees must ~ again, against their own better judgment and will ~ go back to work whether they want to or not, we have a 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States that outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude, and, at last word, is still in effect. At least in theory. Of course, we still have a Draft; so maybe the 13th Amendment is not quite so sacrosanct after all.
In any event, it will be interesting to see how the Courts rule on the Constitutionality of denying unemployment [and possibly other] benefits to someone who has been paying taxes so as to be covered by the government in times of unemployment, disability, and so forth. It will also be interesting to see how Organized Labor deals with all this beyond demanding improved safety protocols and practices in the businesses that do open.
And while we’re at it: There is also a very simple reaction and response to the proposed forced opening of those meat processing plants that started this whole episode. And it doesn’t involve Governors of the affected States telling Trump to stick his Executive Order in his ear. Altho that would certainly help.
And it doesn’t even involve the owners of those plants telling Trump the same thing. [Which is the actual, bottom-line, bullet-hits-the bone issue here: By what authority does the President of the United States ~ or any government official at any level ~ have the power to tell private business owners what they can and can not ~ let alone MUST ~ do? But that is a separate rant.]
The simple, quickest, and easiest solution is for every American who is outraged by this to publicly declare and demonstrate their BOYCOTT of any and all products that come out of those commandeered plants.
The question is: How many Americans are prepared to do that? How many are prepared to put their stomachs [and money] where their mouths are?
It is all about one of the first Lessons in Economics 001: If there is no Demand; there will be no Supply.
On this, Jeffrey, I totally agree!
Well, Thar Ye be, Doc!
See that? We don’t disagree on everything, eh?
Have a great day, and Happy South Viet Nam Liberation Day. [Altho i don’t know how many folks who were in South Viet Nam this day 45 years ago are in a celebratory mood.]
The youngest virus death is a five month old baby who had heart problems. I’m certainly not gleeful about that baby’s death, nor any of the other deaths this virus has caused. None of the others here are gleeful either. Our feeling is anger at the Trump administration for not taking the virus seriously and for being ill prepared with testing and necessary medical equipment.
We’re also angered at Republican governors/mayors/county officials around the country who are putting profit above people’s health and safety.
Totally in agreement, Princess Leia!