How America got to 500,000 COVID-19 deaths

We ignored reality, and our responsibility to each other

Coffins.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

More than 500,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.

That is a half-million people who leave behind family, friends, and other loved ones haunted by grief and guilt. But the number doesn't quite capture the scope of the damage done — the survivors who lived through the disease but whose health has never fully returned, the young students whose education has been compromised, the shuttered businesses and employed workers who struggle to keep their homes, the widespread loneliness and isolation caused by the need for social distancing.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Joel Mathis, The Week US

Joel Mathis is a freelance writer who has spent nine years as a syndicated columnist, co-writing the RedBlueAmerica column as the liberal half of a point-counterpoint duo. His work also regularly appears in National Geographic, The Kansas City Star and Heatmap News. His awards include best online commentary at the Online News Association and (twice) at the City and Regional Magazine Association.