US Caught Shamefully Shortsighted as Covid 19 Fatalities Rip Through Nation
Six months ago, nationwide school shutdowns ripped students from their classrooms and dropped them into online woe, only for them to reopen, 200,000 American deaths later. Meanwhile, places like South Korea have tackled the virus with previous experience from MERS and emerged from the pandemic with only 388 deaths and a thriving economy. To put this into perspective, South Korea only currently has recorded 388 deaths, but about every fourth recorded person that dies from COVID-19 worldwide is a U.S. citizen. In a country with advanced first-world medical technology, 200,000 lives lost is a monumental number. For myself, it’s almost harder to see how the United States has succeeded in preventing the pandemic than it is to see how the U.S. has failed. Hundreds daily are dying all around us, and in my opinion, this number could be much lower. I believe that had our country taken more action against COVID-19 to begin with, the amount of mourning families would be significantly lower and countless lives would have been saved.
President Donald Trump said months ago that COVID wasn’t a big deal despite admitting non-publicly, “It's also more deadly than your - you know, your - even your strenuous flus” (Trump February 7). This false sense of security is part of what made quarantine so difficult for myself and many others. Trump also moved on to admit to Bob Woodward that he purposefully lied, claiming, “I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down-- Because I don’t want to create a panic,” (Trump March 19) just six days after our school was shut down. Of course, Donald Trump is not the only reason this country hasn’t successfully handled the pandemic, but as a widely impactful political voice that is heard across the nation, he could've used his power along with the so-called dreaded “panic” in a positive way to warn us more thoroughly, instead of misinforming. As a country that views itself higher than the rest of the world, I think we as Americans tend to be blinded to the struggles of other nations. This time, the struggle spread to us, and politicians did little to prevent it from exploding across the United States
Personally, I believe even if masks aren’t 100% effective, any protection is better than none when it comes to keeping my family safe. Another issue I believe the U.S. is facing is that some people claim the rules set to protect them and others are an infringement of their freedoms. An example took place in Utah where, “angry parents packed into a County Commission meeting in Provo, pulling tape off the seats meant to maintain social distancing, and for almost two hours railed against a mask mandate Gov. Gary Herbert issued last week after he earlier said that schools would open for in-person learning this fall” (Forbes Magazine). As a high school student, I try to keep my mouth shut on social media, but when there are thousands of adults on Facebook claiming they, “won’t become sheep of the government,” it becomes difficult to bite my tongue. In a country where you wait until you’re 16 to drive, 18 to be an “adult,” and 21 to drink, people can do all of these things, but cannot put a simple face covering on when they go to Walmart. On the other hand, I think our school did its best to enforce the mask policies and distribute the right punishments while still in session. As a country though, it would be much less argumentative if there was a nationwide mandate. At this point, it’s every school district and state government for themselves and in many places this isn’t proving effective as children and staff fall sick and schools shut down.
As a student that lives with immunocompromised family members, it has been difficult to sit idly by and watch the world grapple with this disease. If America would have done things right from the beginning or taken advice from successful pandemic-fighting countries, thousands of U.S. citizens could still be living today. This is why I believe that our country, as advanced as it is, has failed to keep its people safe in a great time of need.
By Paige Helfrich
Oshkosh West Index Volume 117 Issue I
October 2nd, 2020