Keep it Simple: America — poster child of the pandemic
In the future, when people look back at the devastating impact of COVID-19, they will hold up the United States as the prime example of how not to respond to a deadly pandemic.
Although we make up only a small portion of the world's population we have bore the brunt of COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic. We are zeroing in on 1 million deaths, while worldwide there have been 6 million. We have accounted for more than 16 percent of deaths while only having a mere 4 percent of the population.
Where in the heck did we go wrong? One of the most powerful nations in the world has been completely laid low by the virus while Canada, our neighbor to the north, has fared much, much better. It certainly didn't help that we had what has arguably been the most incompetent president to ever occupy the White House leading the country at the beginning of the pandemic.
Former President Donald Trump did his best to downplay and politicize the pandemic right from the get-go. The political aspects of the pandemic — with Democrats mostly taking it seriously and Republicans not so much — set the stage early for a poor response to saving lives on behalf of the common good.
In Canada, 82 percent of its citizens have opted to be vaccinated while in the United States the number is stuck at around 66 percent. Canadians also supported mask wearing, social distancing and other measures to protect themselves during the pandemic. Here in the United States, not so much.
In the United States we have suffered through 279 COVID-19 related deaths per 100,000 of our population while in Canada the number has been far less — only 94 per 100,000.
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To date only about 60 percent of Republicans have rolled up their sleeves for the COVID-19 vaccine while over 90 percent of Democrats have done so. It should come as no surprise to thinking folks that studies have indicated the unvaccinated are 17 times more likely to wind up in an ICU unit compared to the vaccinated, and they are 20 times more likely to die from the virus if they do contract the disease.
I recently read red states such as Florida and Texas have had much higher rates of cases, hospitalizations and deaths compared to traditionally blue states such as New York and Massachusetts. Imagine that. This may be a first in the history of mankind in which being a member of a certain political party has been shown to be hazardous to your health.
According to a report from National Public Radio studies have indicated counties in the United States which were heavy in their support for Trump in the 2020 election were at a much higher risk of its citizens dying from COVID-19 compared to Biden leaning counties. The report concluded that adhering to misinformation regarding the pandemic was the biggest factor in influencing people's decision whether to get vaccinated or to support mask mandates and other lifesaving measures to protect themselves and their communities.
It is sad to think an individual's allegiance to a political party and their belief in misinformation has actually been detrimental to their health. In the future people tasked with preparing for the next global outbreak of a deadly virus will have to concentrate on educating these people to the benefits of first, taking such an outbreak seriously and second, taking seriously public efforts to protect all of our citizens. I don't envy them in the least. We definitely have our work cut out to see that we improve on our dismal record and response to the current pandemic. The world will be watching.
— Michael Jones is a columnist and contributor for the Gaylord Herald Times. He can be reached at mfomike2@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Keep it Simple: America — poster child of the pandemic
