Thread by @ASlavitt

COVID Update September 2: Lets say we were in a war. A war where we are attacked at home and hundreds of thousands of people died.

We would have a few expectations of the president in a war. Protect the citizenry, defend the nation, honor those we lose.

Arming the troops is the first obligation. People on the front lines need protection. Having a battle plan and reviewing data every day. Hiring the best generals.

Minimize casualties. Deploy all our resources. Don’t quit in the middle. Rally the country. Make an alliance.

When troops and civilians lost their lives the commander in chief would be expected to visit them in the hospital, cheer them up, bury them with honors, and comfort the families.

But there’s an exception. There would be a reason to do the whole thing differently.

What if soldiers were shot, civilians were bombed, people died in small and large numbers— always alone— but they weren’t REALLY killed in war.

If a soldier had childhood asthma say? Or Type 1 diabetes? Or was afflicted with a heart arrhythmia?

Different story.

I’m sorry Ma’am, you see we can’t give your son a special burial. He did not die for this country. Yes a bullet went through his head, but we discovered that he had arthritis in his knee which kept him from running fast.

The arthritis killed him.

And once you accept that, a lot of things make sense. Why PPE was not procured. Why in the middle of the war the Fed government won’t buy more PPE for vulnerable areas. Why testing is not recommended.

This is a problem and a war that doesn’t exist.

It makes perfect sense if that’s your view. I mean sure people are dying at an average of 10 years earlier than their life expectancy.

But who told them to get diabetes? Or cancer? Or a heart condition? Or paralyzed at a young age?

How about personal responsibility?

The government can’t be expected to use the Defense Production Act for a measly 9000 deaths. The Senate can’t be expected to provide benefits.

Why should bars close or masks be warn when the way is obviously fake.

Besides those going to war are poor. They’re Black and Brown. They work jobs where they GET PAID BY THE HOUR. And let’s face it they aren’t all lean & fit.

So what’s a little herd thinning??? It happens. That’s no war.

What about the 50,000 deaths in nursing homes? These folks had many other things wrong. Who can really say that the bullets killed them? They might have survived.

But there’s another secret. The people in nursing homes. They’re not all old.

Many are young and disabled. People who can’t live independently. People who don’t often have the resistance or ability to fight when something goes wrong.

It’s not herd immunity. It’s herd thinning.

Some might think that this type of thinking is sociopathic.

That that’s no way for a president to treat a human life. Or surviving families. Or to put up a defense.

But what if you hadn’t prepared. Had been caught off guard. Kept getting surprised. Didn’t hire the best people. Let Tripp’s go without gear. Had no allies. If your shins hurt at the mere mention of conflict.

Lying about others’ lives, their fates, the ends they meet is not without cost. It negates the closure a family needs. It nullifies the pain of a lonely windower.

I know someone whose parents were in their 50s. Mother was 58, beautiful kind loving woman. The person I know is 24 and was still a momma’s boy. But she had lupus. Both parents got COVID.

They caught COVID-19 in New Jersey. She was in a coma and appeared to be pulling out. She didn’t make it. Her ultimate cause of death was a stroke. It’s what the death certificate says.

Did she die from a stroke? Did she die from Lupus? Was her cause of death COVID?

He warns people to take COVID seriously. He is surprised that some act like she deserved what she got because she had a preexisting condition. It adds pain to his grief. To his father’s.

He thinks about all the years he never got with her and the truth of the matter is he will end up, with any justice, remembering her life, not her painful lonely death.

Lupus, Covid, a stroke. Having met her once, the truth is she will not be defined by a disease. She is more.

We only go around once. We do our best to honor the people around us. Wars— things which cause massive numbers of deaths rapidly— are rare & tragic when they happen.

Discount someone because they’re old? Because like 130 million others, they have an illness? Because they have to get up and work for a living.

I like my generals battle-tested.

Having faced down adversity not run from it.

Willing to make an expert not find an excuse.

Having loved and lost & with an expansive heart, not heartless.

With confidence to lead through uncertainty, not lie through it.

People suited for any kind of adversity would never cheapen the sacrifices of those they failed to protect. /end