As of today, President Trump hasn't significantly invoked the Defense Production Act, and is talking about a criminally negligent lifting of lockdown restrictions.
Daily, I see two numbers about the coronavirus rise: cases and deaths. But I don't see the number I'm really interested in. Each individual tally of those numbers is a real person. Soon, one of those cases could be me, if I was tested or if I develop significant symptoms. I don't know. Soon, one of those deaths could be my daughter, who is at high risk (as are members of my extended family).
The number I’m most interested in is not the number of cases or the sheer number of deaths. Eventually, most will get the virus. Some will need hospitalization, and some will succumb to it. The question is when, and will the needed medical care be there? The coronavirus metric I really am concerned about hasn’t been written about, or significantly searched for. It has only been warned about, not counted. Yet. I want to know the true depth of this tragedy that could have been avoided. I want to know the number of avoidable, unnecessary deaths: deaths caused because we under-prepared and overwhelmed our healthcare system. THAT will be Trump’s defining historic number from the coronavirus pandemic. I call it, Trump’s Death Toll.
China may have been the origin of this “royal flush” odds viral strain, but if any one person has been the root cause, Trump singularly owns America’s lack of preparedness and deadly slow response. Whether he wants to take responsibility or not for dismantling America’s defense against pandemics, one of today’s major threats, most Americans hold the president responsible for protecting our welfare. I do.
He disarmed our National Security, and then denied the danger. He continues to drag his feet on our national response, against urgent scientific and medical imperatives. This is the sort of threat where delay is deadly, and the earlier the response, the better. Other countries prepared for this threat, reacted early and strong, tested liberally, and traced infections. They quickly hammered the virus with temporary lockdowns, and are managing to weather the storm. We stand on the knife blade of disaster, where tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths, to magnitudes worse casualties, are at risk of happening. To Americans.
Today, as far as I know, Trump’s Death Toll stands at zero. So far, of the hundreds of American deaths reported, the news coverage has only said they all had access to high-quality health care. God, I hope it stays at zero, but all evidence is that it will skyrocket. The early undetected, nearly unchecked unnecessary spread of this virus has virtually guaranteed a spike in serious cases that will overwhelm available hospital beds. Life and death triage is coming to your local hospital, and it could have been avoidable. America didn’t have to be Italy. We could have done the smart things, like South Korea.
It would have been avoidable by doing smart things, things true experts recommend. Science. Just like the climate emergency, which maybe should equally be called Trump’s Thermogeddon. Perhaps he is the single person most responsible for America and the world dragging its feet when urgency is vital, according to science.
Our courageous doctors and nurses, and first responders and volunteers of all types, will heroically fight this disease, sometimes without the protective gear they should have. They will deserve credit for minimizing the number of unnecessary deaths. They are not responsible for
Trump is. Every death from a lack of proper health care will be accounted for in Trump’s Death Toll, #trumpsdeathtoll.
Trump can still save thousands or more by letting health experts lead and invoking the Defense Production Act to leverage America’s full potential to fight this threat. You can sign this petition to urge his immediate action, and call for it any way you can.
History’s bell will toll for Trump, once for every unnecessary funeral bell peal, as recorded by the scores of American lives that will likely be tragically ended early because of his arrogant, stupid dismissal of science. The thing I hope this country gets (and remembers in November) from this deadly, ever-so-costly avoidable tragedy is that Truth and Science Matters.