There have been 52 million Americans that have come down with a COVID-19 illness, and more than 800,000 have died from that illness. And as the charts above show (from the December 27th Washington Post), the pandemic is not over. It will continue to infect people and kill many of them at least through this winter -- and probably significantly longer.
Many of us had hoped the pandemic would be over by now. Instead, it looks like it may shift from a pandemic to an endemic (a disease we will have to live with for many more years -- perhaps forever).
Why is this true? First, even though we have several vaccines that are very effective, those vaccines have not been distributed to all the world. And as long as the virus raging through other, mostly unvaccinated countries, it will remain a danger to this country.
But there is another reason -- perhaps even more important in this country. There is a political effort to keep the pandemic going. Right-wing Republicans are opposing vaccinations, wearing masks, and social distancing (even though they are very effective in preventing the virus from spreading). And their followers are refusing vaccinations, masks, and social distancing.
Why are the GOP politicians doing this. They know that refusing those measures will make people sick and kill many of them. But they don't care about that. They think if they can keep the pandemic going until November of 2022, they will do well in the next elections. They think voters will blame President Biden for the pandemic and vote for Republicans (even though the pandemic was helped by the incompetence of a Republican president and continued by the denials of Republican politicians).
I hope they are wrong. It is immoral for them to endanger the American public and then benefit from it.
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