On March 2, 2020, there were 102 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. There now have been more than 7 million cases resulting in over 200,000 American deaths.
Over 200,000 Americans dead.
Read that line again …
By Sarah Lewerenz, Attorney at Law and Charlotte County Dems writer
Over 200,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 in just the last six and a half months. Wives, husbands, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, grandparents, friends. Those 200,000 dead Americans were loved by those with whom they shared holidays and daily meals. Some looked after grandparents and raised children. Many went to work and came home. They hugged each other. They argued. They worked in hospitals, meatpacking plants, schools, and prisons. They were cops, firefighters, nurses, teachers, janitors, and grocery store workers. They lived in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and neighborhoods. They made up the vast, wonderful diversity of this country. And, they are all gone. Forever.
It is easy to see people as numbers, especially when you have a large number like 200,000. Hopefully, none of those more than 200,000 Coronavirus victims is someone you loved. But imagine what it would be like if one of them was yours. A husband who doesn’t come through the back door after work anymore. A grandmother you can’t visit in a nursing home ever again. A child who will never graduate from college. A mother who will never make your favorite chocolate chip cookies again. If you work really hard to imagine, it will likely bring you to tears… as it did those who actually suffered those losses.
It didn’t have to be this way. If we had a president who had just done the simple public health measures called for in a pandemic, like ordering the production and wearing of good masks and shutting down beaches and bars, tens of thousands of those dead would have been saved. Back doors would still open. Grandmothers would smile. The child would graduate. Chocolate chip cookies would smell delicious.
Our president knew COVID-19 was deadly. He told Bob Woodward. You can listen to the conversation yourself here. Yet, he continued to publicly claim the virus was a hoax that would disappear and he did next to nothing to stop it.
Now he claims the pandemic is over. It certainly is NOT for the hundreds who die from COVID-19 every day in this country. There really is only one thing most of us can do for the over 200,000 dead, and for those who may die in the next weeks, months, and beyond: Vote to remove Donald Trump from office. Vote for a candidate who believes in science. Vote for a candidate who will take the pandemic seriously. Vote for a candidate who cares about every American. Vote for Joe Biden.
Vote as if your life depends on it. Because it does.
