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You know ... I was thinking today that we actually DO have a precedent for the US government ignoring, minimizing and downplaying a deadly global virus. It's Reagan, with HIV.
The Reagan administration spent years downplaying HIV/AIDS, and there are even recordings of his administration laughing about it and calling it the "gay plague." https://www.history.com/news/aids-epidemic-ronald-reagan
It's kind of a chilling parallel if we're to believe the accounts that Jared Kushner derailed resources because COVID-19 was hitting blue states hardest. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/kushner-covid19-task-force/
AIDS killed almost 90,000 people in the US over the course of his presidency -- a fraction of how many COVID will kill this year alone. https://lithub.com/ronald-reagan-presided-over-89343-deaths-to-aids-and-did-nothing/
Now, something like 35 million of people have died of AIDS worldwide. I know this history well, because my mom worked in HIV/AIDS prevention in the 80s and 90s, and I did youth education on reservations around the country. I guess that's what got me thinking about it.
That, and wondering what would have happened if we actually *had* marshaled our forces immediately, coordinated a global response, taken it seriously, maybe even stamped it out before millions died all over the world ...
... and of course, whether we're re-creating that particular legacy all over again, right now.
