By Dr. Bill Honigman, Healthcare Human Rights, Coordinator – Progressive Democrats of America

COVID & MFA REALITY CHECK

966,260 Total COVID19 deaths in US to date*

386,504 US COVID19 deaths prevented with MFA**

*Harvard University Daily Tracker

**Lancet Comm, Feb 2021

This is our 109th weekly PDA Online Town Hall since #COVID19 first hit the US in the spring of 2020, and today marks the two-year anniversary since the World Health Organization first gave it pandemic status.  World deaths due to COVID are now known to be over 6 million, and once again the U.S. continues to lead all nations in reported global pandemic deaths. 

A total of 966,260 have now died from COVID19 in the U.S., and that means that an estimated 386,504 of those lost Americans would be alive today, if we had a #SinglePayer expanded and improved #MedicareForAll system in place today. 

As the wealthiest country in the world, we lag behind the rest of the developed world even in the only medical tool deemed valuable enough to be made universally accessible here in the U.S., the COVID19 vaccine.  The U.S. currently is thought to be only 65.7% fully vaccinated.  That puts us ranked at No. 61 at present in the world — just behind El Salvador, and just ahead of Monaco.  And Alabama is still the worst state in the nation, at only 50.5% fully vaccinated, which is shamefully still a full 6 points behind the global average of 56.5%.

Would the pandemic and the soul-crushing suffering and losses here in this country have been lessened had we had early and aggressive universal testing, contract tracing, full protective equipment for frontline workers, and full treatment of all comorbid medical conditions that put so many of us at increased risk for bad outcomes from the disease, and that especially hit our BIPOC and working-class communities the hardest?  Of course, they would.

We all know this, and still, we quibble over mask mandates and partisan identity politics.

At the moment, the Omicron variant continues to decline in prevalence generally now globally, although with a few flair ups noted recently in the UK, Germany, and China this week.  And here in the U.S., state and federal officials are further relaxing restrictions although it should be kept in mind as was noted in the NYT just yesterday, “…the virus is far from gone.  Rates of new infections, while improving, are still higher now than the beginning of last summer.”

Or as Ed Yang of The Atlantic warned us this week in his expose, How Did This Many Deaths Become Normal?, 

“As tragedy becomes routine, excess deaths feel less excessive.  Levels of suffering that once felt like thunderclaps now resemble a metronome’s clicks—the background noise against which everyday life plays…”

Thanks as always, and onward to Medicare for All and Healthcare Justice!

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Watch the previous PDA Healthcare Emergency Town Halls here.

Watch the previous PDA Sunday Progressive Town Halls here.

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