According to recent statements from the White House and communicated by AP News, the COVID-19 coronavirus may kill hundreds of thousands of Americans.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Americans to brace for a “rough two-week period” ahead as the White House released new projections that there could be 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the U.S. from the coronavirus pandemic even if current social distancing guidelines are maintained.
Public health officials stressed that the number could be less if people change their behavior.
“We really believe we can do a lot better than that,” said Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force. That would require all Americans to take seriously their role in preventing the spread of disease, she said.
Trump called American efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus “a matter of life and death” and urged the public to heed his administration’s guidelines. He predicted the country would soon see a “light at the end of the tunnel” in the pandemic that has killed more than 3,500 Americans and infected 170,000 more.
“I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead,” Trump said. “We’re going to go through a very tough two weeks.” (source)
This virus has already killed more people that 9/11, and I say this in such a context because the effect is it having is that of another 9/11. It is seriously shaking up the political order and causing public anger to grow.
Much of the anger is being directed at China, who is being blamed for being “irresponsible” for allowing, as Trump calls it, the “Chinese virus” to ‘kill Americans’ because they are ‘irresponsible’ and ‘Communists.’ This is not to defend China or how the CCP has handled the matter, but to point out how the virus issue has become politicized significantly to the point of making it a cause under which to lobby for global conflict in the name of ‘defending’ one’s nation.
It does not matter at this point how the virus was able to reach the critical mass that it has, or how it got out. Rather, all governments in every country are attempting now to use the virus to broaden their own powers indefinitely, and to justify conflict with each other.
Twenty years ago, the bogeyman was Moslems and 9/11 in a series of attacks that have continued to raise many questions about tied to high ranks within the military and Israel. Now, twenty years later, the same actors are involved, except the actor being put forth to the world is China and a tiny virus going around the world.
The result of 9/11 was the US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. What will the result of the virus be for American foreign policy, especially since not just thousands, but hundreds of thousands of deaths are estimated?