Much of this is no one’s fault. Viruses mutate constantly, becoming exceptionally lethal when a mutation allows one to jump species. Say, from pigs (eg. swine flu) or from chickens (eg. bird flu) That’s because the new host species (eg. us) has had no prior contact with the new virus and must develop antibodies more or less from scratch. That takes a while, and the first pass can be exceptionally lethal.
This process of viral mutation and virgin pandemics has been happening in the eastern hemisphere for millennia. By contrast, it happened relatively infrequently in the Americas prior to Columbus because by and large Native Americans did not domesticate many animals, and thus did not create many opportunities for viruses to jump species. This is why the long history of epidemiology is largely a history of Eurasia and Africa, where people have long domesticated a large variety of food and work animals.
So to a large degree, the sudden emergence of Covid-19 is humanity’s fault at large for continuing to domesticate animals, particularly in close quarters and in unsanitary conditions.
This was going to happen.
But how it plays out, exactly, is another matter. And we can identify one man in particular, whose own ignorance, stubbornness, irrationality, pettiness, incompetence, selfishness, and gross irresponsibility will greatly worsen Covid-19’s impact in the United States: Donald Trump.
Because the emergence of Covid-19 is in no way unexpected, is in no way a surprise, modern nation states have been preparing for such scenarios for many years now. They have been developing methods for warding off some viral mutations altogether, and most importantly, for lessening the impact of novel, new diseases. We have entire bureaucracies dedicated to dealing with this issue, researching, predicting, and preparing for the inevitable.
Yet somehow, through his lunacy, stupidity, and irresponsibility during his 3+ years as president, Donald Trump has managed to diminish our ability to fight the effects of a pandemic disease. His many actions and inactions, some of which are outlined below, will leave us worse off in the end than if he simply didn’t exist. Among his grave missteps:
- Two years ago he fired the entire Center for Disease Control Pandemic Response Team.
- He dismantled the National Security Council’s White House Directorate on Pandemics.
- He went on national television and lied to the American people, falsely claiming that health insurance companies had agreed to waive all copays for Corona related illnesses that would “prevent surprise medical billing” (they had only agreed to waive copays on Corona virus testing).
- He confused Americans and crippled efficient responsiveness by downplaying the disease’s impact, dismissing facts, contradicting American and international authorities, and spreading lies and misinformation.
- He seemed more concerned about his perpetual fetish, the stock market, and actually made tax cuts a central piece of his response to the disease. Not only did it reveal is misplaced priorities, but they almost certainly won’t even pass.
- He has, through his own erratic behavior and incompetence, largely abdicated leadership on the issue to House Democrats. They have just passed a bill that guarantees Americans can, among other things: get free testing for Covid-19, and access federal sick leave if they are afflicted with or are care giving for someone who is afflicted with Covid-19. Trump, following instead of leading, says he will sign the bill. Senate Republicans will pass it because he supports it, although they may not have if he had opposed it.
To be fair, Donald Trump is hardly the only important public official making dangerous decisions and taking irresponsible actions. New York City Mayor Bill DiBlasio’s decision to not close NYC public schools may not end up hurting children much since young patients rarely die of Covid-19; however, keeping the schools open will undoubtedly contribute to the disease’s spread as children pass it to one another and then to other family members back home, which in turn will needlessly raise the number of hospitalizations and fatalities.
But in the end, president of the United States is an infinitely more influential and important position than mayor of New York City, and Trump has made many more bad decisions and taken many more bad actions than DiBlasio; more, perhaps, than any other major politician. And so he will have far more blood on his hands than any other person in this nation. Perhaps hundreds of thousands of people, who would not have died if we had a competent and responsible president, will end up dying because we do not.
In the end, there will not be many Americans who do not know someone who died of Covid-19. And it didn’t have to be this way.
Remember that in November when you go to the polls and think about how satisfying it was four years ago to vote for someone who was clearly unqualified, incompetent, and unreliable, but who said outrageous and even nasty things about people you didn’t like, and how that made you feel good because he was saying what you were afraid to say or because it just titillated you.
This is not me imploring you to vote for Joe Biden. As a registered Green, I understand the two-party duopoly as doing untold damage to our political system, our nation, and its people. I will always respect anyone who abides their conscience by voting for a good candidate who has no real chance of winning. But you should never, ever vote for an objectively bad candidate. One could argue that voting for a good, but unelectable candidate is a “waste” of one’s vote. I heartily disagree, but I understand the argument. However, even if one accepts the “wasted vote” argument, one must recognize that far, far worse than “wasting” one’s vote is actively casting one’s vote for a very electable and bad candidate. They are not the same thing; one is a marginal act and one is an objectively bad act.
Remember that when you enter the voting booth. Remember that, while standing there and preparing to pull the lever, you are not a member of a team, or even an individual person with personal goals and gripes. Rather, you are a citizen with responsibilities to your fellow citizens, your local community, your state, and the nation at large. That’s why you get to vote. Take it seriously.
Because it turns out that president of the United States actually is an important job, and being good or bad at it can save or cost hundreds of thousands, or even millions of lives. We are about to start living and dying with the truth of that.