Winter Is Coming

The next two months are going to be the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 100,000 cases have been reported every day since the election. The numbers are going to continue to climb in the next two months until we look back at 100,000 cases a day as the base of the mountain.

There’s a delay between case spikes and death spikes, which means there will be more deaths in the coming weeks and months. Though Joe Biden won the election, this is still Trump’s pandemic for the next two months until Joe is sworn in on January 20, 20201.

About 1,000 plus people are dying a day now and with 73 days until the January 20, 2021 inauguration that means at least  73,000 more deaths before Biden in sworn in. Since the numbers will rise with no control measures from the Trump administration, it is possible for over 100,000 deaths before the inauguration.

The nation is fatigued from seven months of the virus and many are letting their guard down. As we face Thanksgiving and Christmas families want to gather to celebrate and break bread together. Unfortunately, it is exactly these small family gatherings which help spread the virus. Experts are pleading, “Please don’t gather with more than a few carefully chosen people.” Gathering around the table with family for a holiday meal is one of the riskiest things to do this holiday. It is particularly risky since it involves several generations of people who could transmit the virus.

Trump has refused to concedes his loss. We face the following months with a president who is vindictive and abusive. Emily W. Murphy, a Trump appointee, has yet to sign off on a key document needed to formally begin the transition process. Trump is likely to execute a scorched earth policy making it difficult for the next administration to attach the health crisis from day one. Joe Biden has a COVID-19 task force picked out but they are on hold until Trump allows them work work along side his gutted COVID-19 task force.

On person on Biden’s task force is Rick Bright who tried to warn the Trump administration about the dangers of the virus. Back in May he warned that “2020 could be the darkest winter in modern history.” He damn well got that right.  Rick was demoted when he blew the whistle on the Trump administration when they tied to flood the streets with  an unproven drug touted by Trump, Hydroxychloroquine. The malaria drug was proven to have no benefit for COID-19 patients and in some cases was lethal. Had the administration listened to Rick Bright at the beginning of the pandemic, thousands of lives could have been saved.