Colin Powell is Among The 725K Americans Who Have Died of COVID-19 As Cases Top 45M

As of today, 725,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. The most famous among them is former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell who succumbed to its complications today at the age of 84.

It was a sad day not only for the loss of a man who served this country with distinction, but for the crass manner in which his passing was exploited. On the Left you had those who never forgave him for his involvement in the War in Iraq. The Right, upon learning Powell had been fully vaccinated, used today as an opportunity to claim that vaccines don't work without mentioning that he had multiple myeloma. You know the kind of cancer which inhibits the blood from producing anti-bodies. Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz actually managed to synthesize both sentiments when he tweeted, "Post-vaccine breakthrough infection kills more people than Iraq’s WMD’s ever did." Nice of him to discourage people from getting vaccinated.

Here are the cold facts. Today, we not only crossed 725,000 deaths but we also passed the 45 million case mark. According to Johns Hopkins University, there have been 45,048,605 cases resulting in 726,149 deaths representing a mortality rate of 1.6%.

There is a sliver of good news though. Both community spread and deaths have seen modest declines. After taking 9 days to go from both 42 to 43 million cases and from 43 to 44 million cases, it took 12 days to go from 44 to 45 million cases. Yet keep in mind, it took 58 days to go from 33 to 34 million cases between May and July. And whereas it took 11 days to go from 675,000 to 700,000 deaths, it took 17 days to go from 700,000 to 725,000. Still, we must keep in mind it took 65 days to go from 600,000 to 625,000 deaths between June and August.

The question remains is whether we will continue to go into the right direction. Notwithstanding Powell's passing, the key is vaccination. The country is just about 58% fully vaccinated which puts us just ahead of Turkey and slightly behind Ecuador. We can do better, but a large minority doesn't want to do better.

R.I.P., General Powell.