22 Sep Two. Hundred. Thousand. Americans. Dead.

My loyal blogees know that I do not write about politics. Today I present as a patriotic American and very proud New Yorker. I wish solely to pause as we see that the total announced deaths in the US from the COVID-19 pandemic has now exceeded two hundred thousand. The virus is now the third leading cause of death in this country, behind only heart disease and cancer. COVID has killed more than accidents, injuries, lung disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. I sadly know three who succumbed, and easily a dozen others who had very difficult experiences with the virus. Many still are suffering symptoms months after they recovered (this article summarizes the challenges faced by so-called “long haulers” of all ages). Others are facing mental issues as we remain restricted in our lives and business, and our children are facing potentially a full school year of both remote and some in-person learning. All this while the country is facing other crises and major events. These include the ongoing racial tension resulting from the death of George Floyd to climate issues such as the Western wildfires and Southern hurricanes to the current intense debate concerning the replacement of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which has implications, among other things, on the future of healthcare in the US.

Regardless of your political persuasion, putting aside the causes and blame game, you have to see this amount of death as catastrophic for our country, and of course the rest of the world, especially as we see new surges in Europe, with no apparent end in sight just yet. We can no longer just compare this to seasonal flu. And it is not at all clear when a reliable, safe and effective vaccine will be available to most Americans. And even then, how many will take it? For how many will the vaccine be ineffective, given that epidemiologists say 50-75% effectiveness is good? And what longer-term changes to our life, routine, business, leisure and world will kick in even after the vaccine is available? Sadly we do not know the answers to any of these questions yet, and that uncertainty, along with so much we still do not know about the long-term impact the virus has on its victims who do survive, is continuing to create stress and fear among many Americans.

I hope you will all take a moment today to remember the 200,000 American souls lost to the pandemic and hope that we don’t lose another equivalent amount in the months (years?) ahead. My goal as it always is: put positivity out to the universe, count our blessings if we and those we care about are healthy and safe, assume this is going to be with us and look for ways not only to survive but to thrive through it, and of course exercise caution in your activities to avoid exposure to the virus. Find useful breaks from the stress and push forward as Americans always do in times of adversity. And to my fellow New Yorkers, we survived a truly hellish few months, let’s keep up the compliance on masks and other protections so we can move our city and state back to more of a sense of normalcy. And thank you thank you thank you to the health care workers and other first responders and essential workers!