photo: PDA’s Dr. Bill Honigman’s Healthcare Not Warfare Speech – We want Bernie rally 2016

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

COVID & MFA REALITY CHECK

1,068,816 Total COVID19 deaths in US to date*

427,526 US COVID19 deaths prevented with MFA**

*Harvard University Daily Tracker

**Lancet Comm, Feb 2021

This is now our 143rd consecutive weekly PDA Online Sunday Town Hall that began when #COVID19 first hit the U.S. in the spring of 2020.  And once again today, sadly, we must report that the United States continues as the world leader among nations in total number of confirmed deaths due to the coronavirus.

In particular, with midterm elections here in the U.S. culminating this Tuesday, November 8th, the results of which are likely to be praised by some and disputed by others, what can we expect to be our collective fate in facing this ongoing public health emergency and others predicted to be headed our way, as a result?

The Harvard University daily tracking center is reporting the U.S. COVID19 total death toll today at 1,068,816, which means according to the Lancet Commission Report of 2021, that an estimated 427,526 Americans have now died from COVID19 unnecessarily, and would still be alive today if we had a system of Universal Healthcare like #SinglePayer expanded and improved #MedicareForAll (MFA).

Once again, that’s almost a thousand more, just this week alone, specifically 987 more Americans who were killed solely because of political inaction that ignores the science of Public Health and Economics in favor of wealthy political donors from the medical industrial complex, Wall Street, and the US Chamber of Commerce.

This week, world new cases and death rates due to COVID19 continued at relatively low levels or were even decreasing in most areas, with some slight increase still noted in South Korea and now Japan as well, and leveling off reported in the U.S., Brazil, and Russia.

OurWorldInData.org is reporting now that only an estimated 68.2% of world population have received at least one dose of the COVID19 vaccine, with only 23.4% of those who happen to live in low-income countries, primarily of the global south, having received a first dose of a COVID19 vaccine so far.

The U.S. still has only 69% of its population with a completed initial series.

The Johns Hopkins Resource Center which ranks countries by percentage COVID19 vaccinations as first dose only, this week has the U.S. again at No. 50, in this category, still just behind Tuvalu and Panama, and just ahead of Kuwait and Belgium.

And the U.S. worst state for COVID19 vaccination continues to be Wyoming, this week tied with Alabama, at only 52.6% of their respective populations fully vaxxed.  Red state intransigence.

The CDC and other experts continue to advise that vaccination, including with the new multivalent booster, is our best protection that we can have now with colder days here and months yet ahead of us.  The so-called “Scrabble variants” now circulating globally, including the newer BQ.1, BQ.1.1, and BA.4.6, are reported to be rising each week, however the ramping up of one’s immune system afforded by the new booster is thought to convey more ability to fend off any of these threats, and certainly likely to convey more protection against the Omicron BA.5 subvariant that still accounts for nearly 40% of all U.S. COVID19 cases at present.

Meanwhile COVID relief measures are rapidly falling by the wayside as a marginally Democratic Congress and the Biden administration fight to remain in control, at least on paper, until the results of Tuesday’s election are known.  Republicans continue unapologetically to advocate discontinuation of any such assistance, as well as to threaten traditional sources of financial help to those in need, whether due to the pandemic or otherwise, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, student loan forgiveness, unemployment relief, and affordable housing.

All of this with rising global temperatures exacting a demonstrable toll on the world’s social safety net.  What more will it take to motivate people to do their civic duty and take action, or at the very least to vote to ensure their futures, for themselves and their families?

At least here in the good old US of A, it all comes down to, is there enough of a representative republic left to secure our own futures, or isn’t there?

Well, thanks once again for listening, and for doing all that you can for the cause.

Onward!

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Watch the previous PDA Healthcare Emergency Town Halls here.

Watch the previous PDA Sunday Progressive Town Halls here.