AMERICA — NOT EVEN A FAILED STATE BUT A PLAGUE STATE
By Vincent Lyn
Who would’ve thought a year ago that the world especially America would be spiraling into utter chaos, economic disaster, anarchy and a pandemic of epic proportions unlike anything we’ve seen in the past 100 years. When the chips are down you would hope that it would bring people together like it did on 9–11 but unfortunately the country is being pulled asunder. America is no longer united anymore and has become unwelcome across the world.
COVID-19 has been with us for over eight months since it began in Wuhan, China and gradually has smeared itself, traversing the world to every country and territory. It has laid waste to some more than others simply because some countries were proactive and smart while others like America were not. People have lost count of the numbers of collective death simply because it’s a number that no longer makes any sense. It’s beyond our human comprehension. Heading towards 140,000 deaths is a number that defies imagination but I’ll be very surprised not to see less than one million dead. Its like when a mad man kills one we call him a murderer. If he kills three or more they are labeled a serial killer, when its ten or twenty then a mass murderer and if it’s a hundred thousand or a million they are sometimes given an actual title ‘Great’ or ‘Conqueror’.
Despotic leaders as in this case are usually the ones responsible for these heinous atrocities. I mean who else kills more than a hundred thousand innocent men, women and children? History has been rife with many despotic leaders, Caligula, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Idi Amin, Pol Pot and yes now Trump whom like them were willing to sacrifice and murder their own people. In the early days of the virus we knew that COVID-19 mostly affected the elderly many of whom have other comorbidity. But like all viruses it changes and mutates and it’s now taking the lives of much younger people, even children in some cases. Many very healthy and fit younger people are now dying most likely because they are not respecting social distancing properly, coming into contact with people who are infected and getting a very high viral load and of course not wearing a face mask. Tragically this is happening more and more. Scientists are learning new things about COVID-19 and no doubt this will be studied for decades to come. So yes the elderly not to sound callous were going to die sooner or later, COVID-19 hastened their deaths. But when you make a point to announce that all schools must open this September without any plan of action to make sure they are 100% safe then you have crossed the line. Trump is now willing to sacrifice the children. Not his own mind you but yours and mine. And seeing as we are talking about children let’s talk real numbers. There are 57 million children who attend schools. If we assume a ridiculously low infection rate of 2% that’s 1,140,000 children sick and assume a death rate of 0.5% that’s almost 6,000 dead children. Horrified yet? Trump is a despot, a mass murderer of his own citizens and now is willing to sacrifice the innocent children as well. There is no other way to slice it and if you don’t see it that way you are in complete denial of the disgusting and dirty rotten scoundrel Trump truly is.
I’ve watched in utter amazement the debacle that has happened and continues to play out in America. A terrible catastrophe awaits America and its unfolding right before our very eyes. To start with the numbers which are the worst in the world have gone from staggering to something beyond that, shocking, surreal, gruesome and nightmarish. America is now the global example of the worst-case scenario. But this is only the beginning and many who’ve been in complete denial from the very beginning, no doubt will not survive for what’s coming. Well maybe not the billionaires as they are making money hand over foot but tens of thousands if not millions of people are simply drowning.
What if I told you that this is only the tip of the iceberg and it’s going to be around for at least another five years and also highly doubtful that a vaccine will ever come to fruition? I know it sounds absolutely terrifying! Because if you thought life was bad now, five years of this and life would pretty much cease to exist. But hear me out. Basic facts we are eight months into the pandemic and it’s touched every country and so far heading touching 13 million cases and 565,000 deaths worldwide. In America the highest number of any country stands presently at 3.3 million cases and 137,000 deaths. The world population currently is 7.8 billion. So America a population of 330 million, approximately 1% of the population has been infected. Now current rate of infection on June 1st America had 16,000 new coronavirus cases. By June 9th that number had risen to 62,500 in other words America’s new coronavirus cases quadrupled in about ten days. Yesterday alone we had over 70,000 cases. So the numbers are growing at an exponential rate and according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, believes we might see 100,000 cases per day before too long. It’s very real and I believe we are right on track for this.
Next it is plain to see that the current administration along with many state leaders have completely given up trying to stem the tide of the tsunami that’s coming. Though in my estimation they never even tried to do anything at all except possibly Governor Cuomo of New York. But it will be all too little too late, as we soon shall see. Everyone’s heard of ‘herd immunity’ as that terms been loosely thrown around since the beginning of this pandemic. Maybe that’s what Trump has opted for, who knows? He certainly doesn’t have a clue so it’s anyone’s guess. But lets say herd immunity is where it’s at which means 60% and preferably 70% of the population need to get infected. When we get to 100,000 cases per day in order to infect 70% of the population that would be 231 million it would take over six years. Yes six years! Just do the simple math at 100,000 cases per day to reach 231 million. It’s bloody eternity, so that’s seems completely out of touch with reality for any one to have to bear let alone try and survive it. In other words herd immunity is a fantasy.
Vaccinations — are one of the world’s most successful health interventions, saving as many as 3 million lives every year. But a further 1.5 million deaths a year could be avoided with improved global coverage. Cost, conflict and vaccine hesitancy are among the barriers. Which brings us to the idea that the reality of a vaccine is even more preposterous. Why? Currently there are over 100 studies under way to find a vaccine for COVID-19. Usually for any vaccine it takes about a five–year time frame though the speed at which current researchers and pharmaceutical companies have responded to the coronavirus epidemic has been described as unprecedented. Vaccine development is characterized by an enormously high failure rate often 93% between animal studies and registration of a product. The discovery and research phase is normally 2–5 years and in total a vaccine can take 10 years to fully develop and costs up to $500 million dollars. Another point to understand that many established vaccines are not universal. Also last year alone vaccine hesitancy, reluctance or refusal to vaccinate is one of the 10 biggest health threats facing the world. France a first world nation has the lowest level of trust in vaccines. A third of the people in the country are concerned about the safety of immunization.
Another important point to understand is that Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) 2002–2003 no vaccine, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) 2012 no vaccine, Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV/AIDS) 1980 still no vaccine and there are numerous other viruses that no vaccine was ever created. So even though some countries including America have already begun clinical trials for COVID-19 — Whoop dee doo! I wouldn’t hold my breath on that. So herd immunity is pretty ridiculous to think that’s at all possible and the optimistic few putting their hopes on a vaccine sounds quite implausible.
And so the pandemic continues to spiral out of control and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It becomes permanent, another part of American history, another grim reminder of how we failed, an everyday feature of American life. We will be cut off from the rest of the world as we already are. Canada has closed its border indefinitely and now Mexico. Think of the irony in that, Mexico closing its border to the United States of America. We are also shut off from Europe. Americans have gone from having access to most of the world to being banned from most of it. Today, Americans are only allowed in a few Caribbean Islands and the Balkans. An American passport is now worthless. Worse than worthless, it’s a plague. So as the world watches in shock and horror at a diseased nation wondering what the hell is happening in America? They have to be giggling a little at what a real shit show it is, because what is happening in America is not happening anywhere else in the world. We have succumbed to being blacklisted. Lambasted and laid waste to no better than third world category. Pakistan has done better. We past failed state ages ago to now become a plague state. Where do we go from here is anyone’s guess but if you have a way to get out do it soon before it’s too late and the gates close permanently.
P.S
I would compare Donald J. Trump to Charles I of England. When Charles I became King in 1625 he never listened to anyone in his cabinet quarreling with Parliament constantly because he felt it his royal prerogative. Charles actually believed in the ‘divine right of kings’, and was determined to govern according to his own conscience. Many of his subjects opposed his policies and perceived his actions as those of a tyrannical absolute monarch. It sounds all too eerily familiar. Charles was eventually tried, convicted, and executed for high treason in 1649.
Mr. Trump — NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW!
Vincent Lyn
CEO/Founder at We Can Save Children
Director of Creative Development at African Views Organization
Economic & Social Council at United Nations
Middle East Correspondent at Wall Street News Agency
Rescue & Recovery Specialist at International Confederation of Police & Security Experts