(Disclaimer: La Tonique Media LLC does not represent any political ideology. While we do not espouse any political beliefs, we do seek to provide a balance perspective by incorporating voices from both sides of the political spectrum.)

By JTTC

On Wednesday, October 14 over 22,000 new infections were reported across the Midwestern United States. This was a new record eclipsing the previous record of 20,000. While it is certainly concerning that this record was set, it’s even more concerning that the previous record was set only five days earlier on the 9th of October. States like Wisconsin are at 84.8 % of hospital beds and 86.4% of intensive care beds in use, a prolonged rise in cases could be destabilizing if not catastrophic. In September alone states like North and South Dakota reported more cases in proportion to their population than every single nation in the world with the one exception of Andorra. For reference, Andorra is a landlocked microstate roughly 2.5 times larger than Washington DC, with a population of roughly 77,000, no military, and a GDP of roughly $3.3 billion. While most states have either fully or partially reopened, an exponential rise in cases could cause this to revert as it has in Texas and California. Reversals in states as major as these can have huge economic consequences given that the top four states California, Texas, New York and Florida make up well over a third of the US economy. The economic, political, and cultural damage will be extensive in any scenario. This doesn’t even begin to address the devastating loss of life we have suffered, and seemingly will continue to suffer. 

The pandemic has caused a drastic loss of human life across the globe. There have been over 38 million officially confirmed cases of COVID-19 with over 1 million deaths globally due to the pandemic. The United States accounts for over a fifth of all deaths at over 215,000 deaths averaging slightly under 1,000 deaths on average a day. Millions more who survive infection may suffer long term health complications as a result of infection. For the United States, the loss of life is only comparable numbers seen in major conflicts. According to data released by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the total number of all U.S. war dead over its entire history comes out to a little over 1.1 million Americans. Only two conflicts killed more Americans, WWII at slightly over 400,000, and the Civil War at well over 600,000. While these conflicts killed more Americans, they also happened over the course of several years. 3 years and 8 months of the conflict took the lives of over 400,000 Americans during WWII. The United States’ conflict with COVID has taken over half that amount in less than a year. It would be easy to blame our casualties on just the disease. However, even nations with far larger populations like India and China; or European nations that tend to have high population density have nowhere near our fatality rate. Not only must the nation grapple with the mountain of fatalities but it also must deal with an ever-expanding of COVID-related national issues.  

For almost everyone, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an immediate personal effect on their lives. For some, this effect is relatively innocuous like wearing a small piece of cloth when grocery shopping or postponing a holiday party. For others like our medical workers, it can mean moving across the country, working 12-hour shifts, and watching over a dozen people die from COVID per shift. However, there are several large changes to our nation that may be less apparent than signs reminding us to wear a mask. One of the most apparent is the economic impact of the pandemic. The nation’s economic situation was starting to recover from the sharp dip between April to July. However, consistently high jobless claims indicate that while on a slow track towards recovery, the labor market will remain scarred by the pandemic for years. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the United States has an unemployment rate nearly double what it was previous to the pandemic. Aside from the economic impact, the pandemic has formulated even more civil unrest. Protests have occurred against various COVID-related lockdowns across the U.S. with some protest numbering as many as 2,500. Some have gone so far as to commit terrorist acts on their fellow Americans. Currently, 13 individuals are on trial on multiple charges including terrorism charges for attempting to kidnap and assassinate the governor of Michigan over her political ideology and COVID-related restrictions in the state. The ways that this pandemic truly has affected our nation may never be fully understood.

JTTC is a political writer for La Tonique.