About 5000 American service members died during the 15 years of fighting in Iraq that began in 2003. The same number of Americans have had their lives cut short by Covid-19 in just the past month. The pandemic took over 1000 Americans on April 1 alone. 
I make this comparison only to say that this mass casualty event we’re currently living through is of a scale that US political culture has not had to grapple with in most people’s living memory.
Covid-19 is a pathogen with it’s own dynamics that work the same way regardless of politics. But the decisions political leaders made (or didn’t make) powerfully shaped the course the disease took and the damage it caused in different places. This will be remembered.
Along with the names and faces of the people who were stolen from us too soon by a pandemic that did not need to get so out of hand.
