And permantly disfigured even more with long COVID.
They knew what would happen. The US is wealthy with a huge military force. They could have locked down and mobilised their army to protect people until it was over.
But the oligarchs didn't want to slow their profits and give up even an inch of their wealth and power, so COVID was allowed to run rampant. They sacrified their own people to the virus. These people did not willingly sacrifice themselves, they were killed through purposeful negelect.
They also encouraged other countries to do the same. My own country hardly had any deaths before US officials visited and pressured them to open again.
It's no longer tracked properly so who knows the full extent of the death.
This could be one of the largest mass killings in history.
The worst part is when the news tries to spin how traumatic it was for kids to endure our pathectic excuse for a 'lockdown', instead of how traumatic it was to watch our countries murder millions for nothing and hear our friends and families parrot eugenics talking points to try and justify it.
EDIT: [CONTENT WARNING] There is a blue MAGA from another instance in the comments who is hand waving away peoples COVID experiences, so if you have lost a loved one to this disease or had your life or loved ones affected by it, reading the comments here might stir some trauma. Just a heads up.
It do be wild that we just lived through a mass death event and kind of nobody gives a shit. Imagine reading in a history book that there was a pandemic in which 20 million people died. You would feel like shit. But we lived through it so we had to become gradually desentisized.
The correct response to the fact that millions of lives were lost to this virus is to lay on the floor and weep. But nobody has time for that because you have to pay the fucking bills. Every trauma in capitalism becomes stuffed in a box labeled "DO NOT OPEN" and stays there until people can't take it anymore and shoot up a school.
Imagine going back in time to 2018 and telling your past self that there is gonna be a deadly virus that's gonna kill millions of people. But the wildest part is that people would stop giving a fuck after two months of it.
We must never forget that this mass death was largely preventable. Millions of lives could have been saved if "western democracies" were equally responsible as China. But this was not possible because human life is worthless in capitalism. Furthermore, it was impossible because there is nobody in charge of these "western democracies". As Matt Christman points out, Capital has completely taken over. China is the only place where there are still people holding the wheel. Every other country has completely lost control.
Yes. It is wild, it is horrific, and it is ongoing. The "Covid is over" campaign is a continuation of this brutal, evil policy. Governments have stopped tracking the pandemic and its impacts, but people are still getting sick, becoming disabled, and dying. We have to do what we can to help the people who have survived so far. It would be better if we had a comprehensive, health-centered global policy, but since we don't have that, it's up to us to do what we can to reduce the spread on a personal level, combat the "Covid is over" propaganda, and support the people affected. Solidarity!