Yesterday, COVID-19 hit yet another grim milestone as more Americans have been killed by COVID-19 than died during WWI more than a century ago. The "war to end all wars" claimed the lives of 116,516 Americans. As of this writing, the CDC indicates that 116,862 Americans have been killed by COVID-19.
It is worth noting that our WWI death toll occurred between April 1917 and December 1918 - 20 months. COVID-19 has eclipsed that death toll in less than 5 months. It is also well worth remembering that a majority of American fatalities during WWI were as a result of the Spanish flu pandemic.
While some hasten to compare a pandemic to a war when we see death on this scale it cannot be helped. At the end of April, more Americans died of COVID-19 than had died during the entire Vietnam War. At the time I made this observation:
A war and a pandemic aren't the same thing, but both bring about death with good people unable to stop it. These good people get PTSD and in the case of COVID-19 it has only just begun. War is hell. So is a pandemic.
Now that total has doubled in less than two months.
Yet we are moving on as if nothing happened whether it be states hastily reopening businesses, Black Lives Matters protesters disregarding social distancing protocols and President Trump doing the same with his impending rally this Saturday in Tulsa. For this we shall pay dearly as if we haven't already paid quite enough.
World War II claimed the lives of more than 418,000 Americans. Shall we reach this milestone as well? With the way things are going not only would I not be surprised if this comes to pass but I believe this could happen much sooner than we could possibly imagine. I would say God help us, but we have forsaken him.
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