US Covid death toll reaches 1 million, and a new subvariant is spreading fast

“There are times when we are 50 states, and there are times when we are one country and have national needs” — President Bartlett (West Wing

In our current fight against COVID, we have forgotten this. We like to pretend that people from New York don’t travel to Pennsylvania, and that people from Ohio don’t take a road trip to the Ikea in Pittsburgh. It seems we have forgotten what it is to be one nation fighting a common enemy.

One million people are already dead, and it looks like things may be getting bad again—at a time when everyone seems to have decided we can make this thing go away through some kind of magical thinking:

US Covid death toll reaches 1 million, and a new subvariant is spreading fast:

Mandates may not increase hesitancy.

“In the four studies, compared to free choice, requirements strengthened vaccination intentions across racial and ethnic groups, across studies, and across levels of trait psychological reactance. The results consistently suggest that fears of a backlash against vaccine mandates may be unfounded and that requirements will promote COVID-19 vaccine uptake in the United States.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-00256-z

Akron COVID-19 limit on private gatherings allowed to expire by mayor

Of course Mayor Horrigan (or anyone else) won’t push to renew these types of restrictions. We have essentially given up on any coordinated effort to stop the spread of the virus. We have conspiracy theory nuts, plain-old deniers, and people who are tired of not being able to do whatever the hell they want (regardless of the consequences to others). It seems we are—for the moment—all on our own.

Akron COVID-19 limit on private gatherings allowed to expire by mayor: