Tag: Covid-19

The Moral Debt of 284,000 Deaths

As of this morning, according to data compiled by the Washington Post, the Covid-19 death toll in the United States stands at 284,005 deaths. Overall, there have been about 15 million documented cases of Covid-19 in the US. Both of these numbers, as shockingly high as they are, probably undersell the actual impact, considering the sorry state of testing, contact tracing, and medical reporting in large swathes of the country.

On Wednesday of last week, the single day death total was 2,861 deaths. For some context, 2,977 people died in the September 11th terrorist attacks. 2,403 people died during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

In total, 620,000 soldiers died during the US Civil War, the bloodiest conflict American forces have been involved with. We are a third of the way to that total in less than one year. The Civil War lasted almost five.

These numbers should be shocking and grief-inducing. We should look at the news that 284,005 Americans have died over the last year from a pandemic, and feel….something. The fact that many of us don’t – myself included – is a really sad commentary on how numb we have become as a nation to those things that are outside of what we would have considered normal or acceptable in the past. Our civic conversations have degraded to a point where millions of Americans have suffered from a terrible disease, and hundreds of thousands of them have been killed, and we can’t hardly muster up a collective tear. Half of us have become inured to the insanity of the world. The other half refuse to acknowledge reality or believe anything anyone tells them.

None of this is a natural occurrence, or a regular progression of rational events. The abnormality of our present moment and our collective obsessions is astounding, if you take a moment to step back and look at it. And, the worst part is, it did not have to happen. The fact that we are at this point is the result of choices and actions taken by people. We have to acknowledge that, and respond to it, if we are going to begin any kind of healing process.

Most importantly, these 284,005 deaths weren’t natural and inevitable. They did not have to happen. Someone bears the blame, and not just the blame, but the moral debt incurred by hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths. And that someone is anyone in a leadership role or position of responsibility who downplayed, dismissed or in any other way disregarded the very real threat of Covid-19, and the advice and direction of public health experts who told them what we needed to do as a society to weather this storm.

This goes against much of the conversation around who bears the blame for the Covid situation in the United States. Even from the most dedicated critic on the left, the narrative is often construed as one where our political leaders should only be held responsible for maybe half of Covid deaths; the rest are considered inevitable ones that would have happened even with a more responsible and effective leader. And, at one level, this is probably correct. No matter who was leading our nation over the course of the last year – Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney or Barack Obama, Joe Biden or George W. Bush – many people would likely have contracted Covid-19 and died. Such is the nature of highly infectious disease.

Nevertheless, I still contend that the total blame here, and the accompanying moral debt that follows the unforeseen deaths of so many people, should be shouldered by our nation’s leaders. The actions and words of these people matter for how we account for these situations. And, from the beginning, President Trump and his most ardent defenders – in the federal government, in Congress, in media, and in various states – have downplayed the crisis, deflected their responsibility, and denigrated those who have worked, suffered, and died. Their failure to do the right thing – the things that experts and health officials and other politicians and even millions of regular, rational people were calling for them to do – means that they must carry the full weight of guilt for those 284,005 deaths. Not only did they cause thousands of unnecessary deaths and untold suffering through their poor policy choices and irresponsible rhetoric, but they also dishonor the deaths of even those who would died anyways. In short, these people bear the weight of all these deaths through dint of simply not trying to mitigate or respond to them in a rational way.

The Covid pandemic in America is a true travesty, and in a more sane world – in a fairer version of history – those who are responsible would go down with the reputation they deserve: that of some of the most morally reprehensible people who ever lived, people who turned a blind eye to massive and largely preventable human suffering, all for short term political gain, and who as a result are remembered primarily for justifying and facilitating hundreds of thousands of deaths. They would be remembered as the cowards they are, scared to stand up to widespread ignorance and fear and push back by presenting a fact-based discourse in the interest of helping people, even if it meant they got dragged on Twitter or bashed on Fox News in the near term.

There are countless people who make up this group of people, and they are led first and foremost by Donald Trump. In 2016, he ascended to a elected position who has as one of its primary functions the moral leadership of the nation. Throughout American history, the President has led by example and word as much as he has by policy and plan. In times of great struggle and crisis, the President’s moral leadership is crucial to maintaining order and directing public will towards the good. While this intention is not always cared through well, this President in particular has failed in this most important task, as he decided from early on to not respond to the pandemic in a way that would help people, but instead selfishly attempted to shift any and all blame and responsibility away from himself. Since February 2019, this has been the primary purpose of his entire public persona, and from all accounts, his private ones as well. Not once has he taken responsibility and tried to address the crisis and save lives; instead, he has consistently shown that his priority is trying to deflect any blame and to win cheap political fights. In the face of a pandemic, his actions have been particularly morally reprehensible.

This shouldn’t be a surprise. Those of use who were critical of Trump to politician from the start saw this coming, and have watched his failure to lead – morally, politically, ethically – from day one of his administration. No one can hide behind claims of ignorance about Trump, because there were myriad early indicators, and a plethora of voices trying desperately to call attention to it, and to the dangers this man posed to the nation and the world.

It did not have to be this way. His failures could have been circumvented and nullified. Such is the decentralized nature of our Constitutional form of government. But instead, members of his political party decided that defending and parroting the President took precedence over doing the right thing and helping the people who had entrusted them with the responsibility of leading. For instance, here in my home state of Oklahoma, our Governor Kevin Stitt, a Tulsa area businessman who rode the tried and true playbook of “we need a businessman to show all those politicians how to really govern” to office in 2018, has shaped himself as Trump-lite during the pandemic. Instead of following the lead of other governors in this part of the country, imposing a statewide mask mandate alongside responsible distancing recommendations, Governor Stitt has instead continually pushed the rhetoric of “personal responsibility” as the antidote to the virus, even as numbers spiked in the spring and never really came down. Of course, Governor Stitt was counting on Oklahomans to view his call for personal responsibility as a “do as I say, not as I do” thing, as early on in the pandemic, he was still posting pictures to his Instagram of he and his family at Oklahoma City-area restaurants, unmasked and in close quarters with hundreds of others. He subsequently contracted Covid-19 this summer, but was lucky enough to escape relatively unharmed, a fate that 1,900 of his late fellow citizens wish they could have shared.

Recently, Governor Stitt dipped into the bucket of typical neo-Trumpian Covid responses, calling for a statewide Day of Prayer and Fasting, in order to “continue to ask God to heal those who are sick, comfort those who are hurting and provide renewed strength and wisdom to all who are managing the effects of COVID-19.” Never mind that he himself is one of those who could be managing those effects; perhaps all those prayers and all that fasting will make an impression on his own soul, and spur him to action. Us Okies aren’t going to hold our collective breaths, however. His false piety, far from being spiritually comforting, is instead deeply insulting to those of us who as people of faith take the idea of communal prayer seriously, not as an offering in hope of divine intervention, but instead as preparation for human action guided by the Holy Spirit. Additionally, it is a slap in the face to those who have suffered from the disease, as it becomes apparent that Governor Stitt, like the President he so obviously models himself on, just doesn’t give enough of a damn to actually do anything about the effects of Covid-19 on Oklahoma and its people.

People like Governor Stitt have enabled Donald Trump, and continued to clear the ground for the inaction and irresponsibility of our civic forces in the face of a worldwide pandemic. It it these very people who bear the burden of guilt for the deaths and the suffering. I repeat myself: it did not have to be this way. We could have, like much of the rest of the world, reacted quickly and intelligently, limiting the spread and saving lives and doing the things we need to do to get to the safety of an effective vaccine. We entrusted these people with the responsibility of leadership, and they have failed spectacularly. They will bear that failure on their souls for the remainder of their lives. We must not let them forget it. Not because revenge is going to somehow atone for those 284,005 deaths. No, instead we must publicly recognize these moral failures, and identify those responsible and the actions they failed to take, in order to properly face the next disaster. Only through future commitment to responsible leadership and collective action can we make the deaths of all those have died from Covid-19, and all those who still will in future, not be in vain.

Why Wearing a Mask is Important

A quick response to the “meltdown” of R.R. Reno on Twitter this week, and the overall meltdown of many on the conservative end of the political spectrum this week:

Wearing a mask in public is not cowardice. It is not socialist. It is not tyranny. It is not the destruction of your freedom or autonomy.

Wearing a mask in public is the responsible thing to do, not in order to save yourself, but in order to keep those around you safe. It’s about a disease that lays dormant for two weeks, and even after that can be asymptomatic, but which still spreads via liquid particles from the mouth and nose. You should wear a mask to keep those around you safe from getting a disease you may or may not be carrying. It’s about thinking about others and doing our part to help everyone around us stay safe and healthy. It’s about protecting vulnerable populations like the elderly, the immuno-compromised or the pregnant.

The real coward is the one who can see no further than the end of their own nose, and thus cannot conceive of doing the radical, dangerous work of loving others by caring for our neighbors. That is the work of Christ, not of cowards.

(Never mind that Jesus blesses the meek and the peacekeepers, not the brave or the strong. But that’s a Sermon on a Mount for another day.)

Wear your mask. Help keep those around you safe.

Social Distancing Isn’t About Fear

One thing I keep reading and hearing from critics and opponents of social distancing and lockdown orders is that those of us taking those things seriously are “living our lives in fear” or “being afraid” of the virus. According to this line of thinking, those of us following the guidance from governmental and scientific authorities to practice social distancing and obey lockdown orders are giving into a paralyzing fear of getting a disease that has a low mortality rate compared to other viruses. Christianity Today did a good job of documenting the spurring of any type of fear by conservative Protestants recently. In the piece, they captured well the attitude I am talking about:

In some evangelical Protestant traditions, fear can also be seen as a betrayal of faith. A group out of Bethel Church—including aspiring politician Sean Feucht, who led worship in the Trump White House last year—is releasing messages online in response to the spread of coronavirus, aiming to “silence voices of fear.” Bethel leader Bill Johnson told followers, “This whole maneuvering in fear is crazy. I’ve never seen the spirit of fear spread so quickly. Internationally, things were many, many, many, times worse.”

This attitude, that we must not “act in fear”, has spurred many of the irresponsible actions taken by those who dismiss the severity of the crisis we face. One need only look as far as the news yesterday, when Vice President Mike Pence visited people recovering from Covid-19 at the Mayo Clinic, and was the only person in the building to not follow the protocols of the hospital and wear a mask. The Vice President wanted us to see he isn’t afraid, he isn’t going to be intimidated by this virus, an attitude consistent with that of the rest of the Administration he is currently a part of.

But here’s the thing: wearing masks, washing our hands, self-quarantining, social distancing, taking part in lockdown orders: none of this is about fear. We aren’t being called on to do these things, to do our part in the face of coronavirus, because we are scared. No one is sitting huddled in their house, shivering fear, jumping at the slightest sound of other human beings.

We do these things because we know that to not do so could cause sickness and death, not necessarily for ourselves, but for our neighbors, for our families, for those around us. We do it because we don’t know the comprehensive medical history of everyone around us. You don’t know if that old man you walked a little too close to at the supermarket has a compromised immune system. You don’t know if that lady at the gas station recently battled cancer and still feels the effects of chemo sickness. And unless you’ve been tested, you don’t know if you are a carrier of coronavirus, and just not showing symptoms.

(Even if you have been tested, you don’t know either; as experts have pointed out, we don’t have an accurate test developed yet.)

Being cautious, taking responsibility for how much we go out, making sacrifices in order to stay safe: none of this is about “living in fear.” Instead, taking these things seriously is to practice that most Christ-like of things: love of neighbor. We do these things because we care about those around us, even those we don’t know or have never met. We are staying safe because we don’t want to put others at risk through our own carelessness and thoughtlessness.

That’s why these defiant reactions against social distancing guidelines are so infuriating. To see people blatantly, and sometimes purposely, disregarding the recommendations of experts and leaders is to see a particularly dangerous and odious form of selfishness at work. Watching people so obviously put their own passing desires and need to consume or buy or gain attention ahead of the safety of those around them is sickening, and to do so is profoundly immoral. It goes against every idea of being your brother or sister’s keeper, of loving your neighbor as yourself, or of treating others as you want to be treated. It is, in short, inhumane.

By flouting social distancing rule, you aren’t proving to us how brave you are. You aren’t being couragoues. You aren’t “sticking it to the man” or exercising your God-given rights or liberties. You aren’t being Christlike. Instead, you are being selfish. You are being childlike and petulant. You are hurting others. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but this is apparently what some people need to hear right now.

Stay home. Wash your hands. Take care of one another. We will get through this, not by asserting our rights or being defiant, but by sacrificing our own needs and giving our hospitals and health care workers and supply chains the time they need to catch up and have the capacity they need to meet the need. It’s the only way to beat this.