General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsStark and brutal piece in The Atlantic: "How the Pandemic Defeated America"
Just a few exerpts can't do this comprehensive piece justice.
If you survive reading it, the ending does present some cause for some hope...
...
The coronavirus found, exploited, and widened every inequity that the U.S. had to offer. Elderly people, already pushed to the fringes of society, were treated as acceptable losses. Women were more likely to lose jobs than men, and also shouldered extra burdens of child care and domestic work, while facing rising rates of domestic violence. In half of the states, people with dementia and intellectual disabilities faced policies that threatened to deny them access to lifesaving ventilators. Thousands of people endured months of COVID‑19 symptoms that resembled those of chronic postviral illnesses, only to be told that their devastating symptoms were in their head. Latinos were three times as likely to be infected as white people. Asian Americans faced racist abuse. Far from being a great equalizer, the pandemic fell unevenly upon the U.S., taking advantage of injustices that had been brewing throughout the nations history.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/coronavirus-american-failure/614191/
crickets
(25,987 posts)I am going to have to take a break. It's a relentlessly detailed catalog of what has caused the misery we are all going through, and why the misery is so much worse for some more than others. From politics to science and the underlying social issues, the article does a very good job of laying out ...everything. It's an amazing piece, very well written, heavily cross referenced with links to further information, and a highly recommended read.
BannonsLiver
(16,508 posts)It has wrecked our healthcare system, killed 155,000 people and destroyed the economy. It will also likely have the effect of ending Dumps presidency, though at great cost.