I can't help but feel like this will be Trump's final fuck-you to the nation.
The United States recorded over 90,000 coronavirus infections yesterday; a new record that easily surpasses the old record we set last week. We also accorded over 900 deaths which is actually slightly lower than we saw in a few recent days.
From NBC News:
More than 30 states reported more than 1,000 cases.
It was the first time the U.S. has crossed 90,000 cases in one day, almost 10,000 more than the previous high of 80,662 cases, which was set just a day before on Wednesday.
The record, of 90,456, also came after the U.S. logged 9 million Covid-19 cases, only hours after reporting a single-day record crossing 80,000 cases for the first time.
The U.S. recorded 982 deaths on Thursday, leading the world death toll with nearly 230,000 deaths, according to the John Hopkins University Covid-19 dashboard.
I don't enjoy being alarmist and I actively avoid it whenever I can, but I don't see how this gets better and it's easy to see how it could get much worse.
Even while he's fighting for reelection, Trump has decided this isn't a big deal. And with that in mind, how much less will he care when he's on his way out?
Death is a lagging indicator, as you know, and the more than 900 people who died yesterday were actually infected earlier this month. People who are being infected right now will die sometime next month. We're approaching 100,000 infections per day and deaths are going to start piling up very high a few weeks before Christmas with no current sign of ebbing.
Deaths may be falling as a percentage of infections (this isn't very clear) but even so we're approaching such a high volume of cases we're still going to see many deaths in any case. Hospitals are also filling up and that will contribute to additional deaths for other conditions aside from the coronavirus.
If Trump is reelected, the most dire predictions that up to 600,000 could die within the next year may come true. The vast majority of our deaths have been preventable and that will be true of the deaths still coming.