Life or Death

When you look at the countries who were able to stop CoronaVirus from wiping out thousands of their citizens, there comes a definitive decision point, either early in the virus' campaign or later, after bodies started to pile up.  The choice was simple:  Are the lives of the citizens more important than the country's economy?

Countries who locked down, dramatically limiting human interaction, also seem to be the countries where the government started early mass testing, something we're still woefully behind here in the US.  By taking this disease seriously, they were able to limit the spread of the disease.  South Korea, who had their first case the same day the US had theirs, have managed to keep their total case count down to around 10,300, and their total deaths at 186. (all numbers were attained from the Johns Hopkins CoronaVirus tracking website as of Noon on Monday, April 6th, 2020) https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html?fbclid=IwAR1ZuNoi-VNjQSoKflZhpQmpjX5cWqUFe2IopxvSHfgNBE4mpF3XDgiqc8s#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

China, where the CoronaVirus started, eventually made the decision people mattered more than the economy, and through extreme measures, they were able to keep their total infection rate from exploding.  They have a little more than 82,600 infections and 3,335 deaths (numbers which might be underreported due to it being China).  They have recently reopened up parts of their country, a decision which might be wrong, but only time will tell.  They announced Tuesday they had their first day without a new case, three months after they started extreme measures.

Italy, a county where international travel brought the virus to them, eventually instituted a dramatic quarantine shut down, limiting all people to a near house arrest status.  This after the country clearly did not take the CoronaVirus seriously to begin with, opting to keep tourist areas open, initially placing money over human lives. They ended up with 132,547 cases of the virus and are the current leader in deaths with 16,523.

The United State already has near tripled the amount of cases Italy has, and by the end of this week the US should lead the rest of the world in number of people killed by CoronaVirus.  The current tally in the US is near 350,000 cases with 10,335 dead.  It also should be mentioned that due to a lack in testing, the case numbers are dramatically undercounted.

A 'human life verses profit margins' decision should be an easy one, but (not surprisingly) it's exposed the fraudulent nature of the Republican Party.  They insist they value human life (pro-Life) and constantly remind us of their affiliation with Christianity, a religion based on caring for our fellow man, including the meekest of us all.  If they are who they claim to be, they should heed the evidence of other countries, lock down the US for at least two months, and stem the tide of this disease before the death count gets into the 6 figure level.

Instead, many Republicans have doubled down on the belief that rescinding all 'stay at home' orders and reopening the country for business will somehow yield a different result than everywhere else it's been attempted.  When you point this out this strategy has failed repeatedly, many 'Christian, pro-Life' Republicans argue 'maybe it's best to have CoronaVirus kill off a few hundred thousand people, as profit margins are more important than saving grandma.'

Let's be honest.  Republicans calling for a massive 'culling of the herd' aren't thinking about their loved ones dying.  It's everyone else's families who need to sacrifice for THEM.  Their family will stay protected.  Others, primarily Democrats and liberals, can preform THEIR penance.

To be fair, there are many Republicans who've done a good job at caring for everyone.  The Governor of Ohio was one of the first to see the danger of COVID-19 and shut down his state early.  Many Republicans in Minnesota have been advocates for Democratic Governor Walz' 'stay at home' order, with heartfelt pleas about how rural Minnesota's aging population and subpar medical facilities would spell doom for many elderly residents.  Their pleas are sincere and sobering.

But for every Republican trying to save lives, there seems to be another Righto trying to make the "I'm all for saving people's lives, BUT..." argument.  Republicans have demanded tourist locations reopen, they've implied all businesses should ignore the legitimate CoronaVirus threat, and they've even placed such auxiliary actives, such as dance studios and public beaches, at a far higher standard than they should, demanding they be allowed to reopen.  These Republicans try to cover their demands by insisting "with precautions" and "and only if people feel safe," but their intent and purpose is clear; for them, money is more important than human life.

You can't be pro-Life while at the same time endorsing tens of thousands of people being sent to die.  You can't be Christian while at the same insisting it's pious and righteous to create more sick and dead.

Until we get this under control, where we have a three day stretch with single digit new CoronaVirus cases, then we need to stay shut down.  If someone starts screaming "we need to reopen business," here's how that should be interpreted.

• Is my wife, husband, child, parent, sibling, friend's life less important than some stranger being able to eat a footlong sub inside the restaurant?
• Is my wife, husband, child, parent, sibling, friend's life less important than allowing tourists to go to a local tourist attraction?
• Is my wife, husband, child, parent, sibling, friend's life less important than the profit margins at some massive corporation?
• Is my wife, husband, child, parent, sibling, friend's life less important than some wealthy person's money?

If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, then you're not Pro-Life, you're not Christian, and you're not a human being who I'd ever want anywhere near me.  In the fight between Life or death, make no mistake.  I'll fight for Life every time.