On September 14, the number of recorded deaths from COVID-19 in the United States reached 663,913. This is 1 in 500 of the April 2020 U.S. Census population, 331.4 million.
This staggering death toll is the work of both the Trump and Biden administrations, and the capitalist system itself. Trump and the Republicans denied the severity and at times even the very existence of the COVID-19 pandemic, and promoted ineffective, often crazy, remedies. But this does not absolve the Biden administration and Democratic politicians of responsibility. The irresponsible re-opening of schools and workplaces without adequate protections across the country, including in Democrat-controlled states, has allowed the pandemic to continue to spread. The continued reliance on for-profit companies to produce vaccines, test kits, masks, and other public health necessities underlies the whole crisis. Why do they put private profits ahead of people’s lives? Answer: this is the system we live under!
We can’t depend on the capitalist system to end this pandemic. Capitalism is incapable of an effective pandemic response because it is run in the interests of the rich. Only a society run by and for working people could respond properly to this and other global emergencies.
