At some point this year, the US will hit 1 million deaths from COVID-19, while the world will reach 6 million deaths.
Yes, you read those numbers correctly: The US accounts for 1/6th of all COVID deaths on Earth (more than 16 percent) even though it has just 4 percent of the world's population. Even worse are the case numbers: Our 78 million cases make up more than 18 percent of the world's 420.5 million cases.
What a disgrace and an international embarrassment for a country that brags it's the greatest in the world.
And with 24 percent of Americans walking around without even one vaccine shot -- with most of them refusing -- COVID is probably here to stay in a much more virulent form than it had to be. And that's very bad news for the 7 million Americans with weak immune systems. If they get hospitalized with COVID, they are 5 times more likely to die than those without compromised immune systems.
These aren't outliers. Know somebody undergoing cancer treatment, with heart issues, with Down Syndrome, with autism, with rheumatoid arthritis? They're all in increased danger.
And as writer Ed Yong noted in The Atlantic, that 7 million number doesn't even include millions of other Americans who have diseases that also hinder immunity, such as AIDS and at least 450 genetic disorders.
These are our relatives, our friends, our neighbors. Even if they are all strangers to us, they are fellow human beings.
But if the willfully unvaccinated don't care about themselves -- they are 17 times more likely to be hospitalized and 20 times more likely to die -- they certainly don't care about strangers, or neighbors, or friends, or relatives, or even their own children.
I suspect that's why the overwhelming majority of you -- smart, compassionate people -- are getting boosted, keeping on your masks, and avoiding crowds. Because if you inadvertently infected somebody undergoing chemotherapy, or a child who had had a heart transplant, you'd be devastated.
That's called humanity.
Here are more of your comments about masks and mandates:
Virginia McVarish of Cambridge, Mass.: I still wear a mask. And I am frustrated when other people don't. Covid is NOT gone. Masks are another layer of safety and are so easy to wear. Why not just wear them? (Note, my husband and I are high-risk and have been super-careful since 3/2020. I don't want to get Covid now!)
Michael of Oklahoma City: I generally wear a mask in public places and crowded stores. Go into a restaurant or bar masked and unmask most of time at the table. We voted in a local election and I was glad to see about 65 percent of the people masked (probably the vaccinated and boosted ones). I am fully vaccinated and boosted and don't hesitate to travel. Have been to NYC twice and Puerto Rico once in the past four months.
Pamela Dintaman of Tucson, Ariz.: I am in no hurry to get rid of masks until hospitals recover and more people take precautions, vaccines/masks. I am more concerned for the safety of the whole community than about my minor inconveniences. I feel dismayed for the teachers now at the mercy of parents who don't want masks, and concerned for school administrators who will bear the brunt of angry demands of parents. This pandemic is an opportunity to teach our children about how we take care of the whole community, how we go beyond ourselves.
I wear a mask when out in public. I eat outdoors with friends. I am living fully; I am not living in fear. (I do not believe that if we choose precautions we are living in fear; there is some major BS going on these days with that cliché.)
Linda Littlefield Grenfell of Wells, Maine: I am an elder, age 72. I wear a mask in all public places, avoid such places as much as possible, and am comfortable continuing to wear a mask for the rest of my life. People who visit our home are asked to wear a mask. I wish mandates would continue or be realized, but it looks like the culture is retreating from protections. Are we giving up? Or giving in?
The protests will influence public policy, as they intend. It continues to amaze many of us that we live with neighbors and relatives and friends who defend their freedom to not wear a mask, as if this is noble. It is shocking how impatient, rude, and selfish our society is. And so very sad.
Long-haul Covid is devastating. I have an adult daughter who has been sick since March of 2020, with brain fog, exhaustion, nerve irritation, and aches and pains. It appears that many people suffer with this, and probably will for a long time, if not for the rest of their lives. It destroys quality of life, and probably will shorten life.
Between the climate crisis, the willful destruction of democracy, the pandemic, and the embrace of ignorance, I confess I am discouraged. This is hard. I guess the insight that we were made for times like this is helpful, and that there are others who share the goal of well-being for all life, is necessary to keep on keepin' on.
Amanda Rychel of Somerville, Mass.: I have a vaccinated 9-year-old in public school. I do not have any other young children at home or anyone who is at high risk for COVID. I support making masks optional first to our vaccinated kids in school, before they are made optional in public spaces. RIght now, the school case counts are extremely low and they are being pool tested weekly.
As a counterpoint, in my workplace, I am not at this time required to wear a mask (we are all vaccinated and boosted and work in a low-density office) and also we have testing weekly at work. Under these scenarios, it is pretty low risk to go without a mask and I think the kids deserve a break. They have been bearing the brunt of restrictions and closures since the beginning and it is unfair to them.
I think we should probably have continued masking in public places until we get case counts and percent positivity down to a certain point (not sure what that should be). My feelings on unmasking the kids makes me feel a bit at odds with people with whom I normally align politically. I think for the most part the progressive left is ignoring data and science now as much as the anti-vaxxers. We need to be reasonable and data-driven when making these decisions.
Ron Rosenstock of Holden, Mass.: When the government passes a law, like seat belts, or a mask mandate, we don't take it personally. We just do it because it's for the good of all. The difficulty I have is finding tolerance for those who don't obey the law.
Dorothy Driscoll: As for masks, we saw what happened when our guard was let down too soon last year. I find it interesting that none of the kids I know really complain about the mask wearing. Rather it is the parents. I would think that the anti-mask parents would be more concerned with all the shootings in schools rather than their child wearing a mask to either protect his life or that of his teacher. How screwed up our values have become.
Mary Miller of Colorado: As a 70-year-old who is pretty healthy but overweight, I wear a mask when I go out. We are not eating inside restaurants yet -- just doing takeout. Colorado is doing pretty well on vaccinations, except for some pockets, and I live in one of those low-vax pockets. Colorado Springs/El Paso County is at 64 percent while the rest of the state is at 72 percent. This is in spite of having numerous military bases that require vaccinations.
To read our horrible newspaper, The Colorado Springs Gazette, it is all a plot to take away our FREEDOM by those Marxist Dems. Of course, nobody says that being dead is not very free.
Paul Regan of Woodstock, Vt.: Mask mandates I believe should be kept in schools. Kids don't seem to have a problem with masks. I think it comes from their parents. If they are going to stop masking in schools, make it contingent on the child getting vaccinated. If not vaccinated, then the child should have to continue wearing a mask. Kids have the lowest vaccination rate -- this is a sure way to make vaccinations happen in that age group!
Has anyone asked teachers how they feel about kids not wearing masks? If I were a teacher, the day kids stop wearing masks in schools would be the day I would quit.
Nothing has really changed. We have the virus with variants and 900,000 people dead. I understand that people and parents want to move on, but give me a break; you're playing Russian roulette with death being the result.
Vermont is highly vaccinated, I think the best in New England if not the whole country. I wear a mask wherever I go, and every rational person I know does the same.
Sylvia Yelland of Crossville, Tenn.: The non-vaxxers are totally responsible for prolonging this problem, quite the same as the parents in Oregon and Washington are responsible (when they refused to have their children vaccinated for school) for the return of measles, mumps, chicken pox, and pneumonia. Why don't people educate themselves before flying off the deep end and causing irreparable damage to this country? Pseudo-intellects.
Kay White Drew of Rockville, Md.: Fully vaxxed and boosted as I am, my policy has been to wear a mask whenever I go anywhere indoors that isn't my own or some vaxxed person's home; most businesses here have signs requiring masks for entry (though I have seen unmasked folks in the grocery store, not many). I haven't eaten with friends at a restaurant for the last couple months b/c omicron but will probably do so again soon (friends who are vaxxed and boosted), though I will be happier when we can gather outside again.
One of my daughters is a schoolteacher in NJ, so I kind of wish they'd hold off on taking away the mask mandate for schools until (a lot) more kids are vaccinated -- that seems like a no-brainer to me, close as we are to having vaccines approved (or whatever) and available for kids of ALL ages.
I have considered the possibility of wearing masks indoors forever during cold & flu season, even once COVID recedes into the distance. (Thanks to all the covidiots, it will never ride off into the sunset, unfortunately.)
Emily Harting of Brooklyn, N.Y.: My rule is to wear a mask inside, if the staff are and/or there is a sign asking you to -- this is for places that do not ask to see a vax card (stores, for instance). I let the staff guide me and follow their lead. Also true for Uber or cabs. I think that's the least we can do!
In restaurants in NYC, you have to show you are fully vaxxed to eat there, so I am comfortable not wearing a mask indoors when dining or at a bar. Finally, now that I wear a mask on the subway, I probably will do so for the rest of my life. For a LOT of reasons, not the least of which is it is a traveling box o' germs, even before Covid.
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