In the United States, we observe Memorial Day to honor those who died serving in our military.

Some facts you may not know:
- The USA entered WWI in 1917 - from then 'til then end of the war our soldiers, sailors, medics, and support personnel fought for about 20 months, until the war was won.
- 116,516 members of the US military died in that conflict.

With me so far?
- 53,402 died in combat.
- 63,114 died of disease, primarily of H1N1 Influenza A - aka Spanish Flu.

Yes. You read that right. More of our WWI dead died of Spanish Flu than died in combat.

It has only been about 3 months since the first reported COVID-19 death in the United States, and yet our deaths have vastly exceeded the WWI deaths from disease over the course of 20 months.

In fact, our dead from COVID-19(nearly 100,000 as I write this) are mere weeks away from surpassing *all* our US military dead in WWI.

Honor the memory of all our military dead. Honor the memory of those who died of disease, not just those who died in combat. Honor our veterans who are dying today from this new disease. And honor all lives lost in war, and all lives lost to this pandemic.

And honor them through action, not just words.

Wear your damn mask.

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Sources:
- War dead - https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/war_losses_usa
- COVID-19 dead - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_the_United_States