How Many More Must Die Before Public Health Becomes Job One?

There is something terribly wrong in the United States (US) with regards to the non-national leadership towards containing the COVID-19 pandemic. 

That this deadly disease, four-months in, continues to plague American communities at stark new record levels, while many other nations gain major success in pushing back against the pesky pathogen, certainly points to a mismanagement and a lack of leadership on the Novel Coronavirus at the national level.

Repeated examples of insolence toward wearing a facial mask by supposed responsible leaders have contributed to the defiance of some Americans to donning the disease containing devise. Even though the science confirms that wearing a facial mask would help to contain the COVID-19 disease, politicians, led by President Donald Trump, and their surrogates and supporters, continue to defy the health practice. Moreover, efforts to contain the disease have gotten very roiled in politics to a point where the Governor of Georgia has filed suit against the Mayor of Atlanta because she has mandated wearing facial masks in public.

US COVID-19 infections have now soared to 3,578,693 cases. Deaths are at 138,384 -  a hell of a lot of American lives lost - spouses, children, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, associates and neighbors. Worldwide infections are 13,841,890 with 590,845 deaths. China and the European Union (EU) have been able to contain the pandemic, yet this feat has eluded American capabilities. Yesterday, the US reported a record single day number of COVID-19 infections of 77,255 - a number 13-times the new cases in the entire EU.

And while wearing facial masks could contain the highly contagious disease, some people still continue to resist the simple health practice. So the question must be asked and answered: how many more Americans must die before public health becomes job number one?

The public health should be the first and foremost element of any economy and national government. Sick people cannot run the machinery of industry. Sick people cannot contribute to jobs growth and economic output. Economies cannot function without people. Therefore, public health must be prioritized over all other matters, and in the US, 138,384 sacrifices of lives are already too many given to COVID-19.