This week in the United States, the COVID-19 death toll has surpassed the number of American troops that died in the Vietnam war. However, the U.S. never officially declared war on Vietnam so the U.S. COVID-19 death toll has surpassed that one time a bunch of Americans had a very bad trip to Vietnam. This high number of American deaths (the highest of any country) raises doubts about the capacity of the US government  — do they have any? 

In efforts to decrease these numbers and flatten the curve, fourteen consecutive days of a decrease in the number of cases is recommended for states before they begin to reopen. Georgia, however, does not particularly care and has begun to reopen and relax social distancing. Some flyover states have done this too, but as you may know, if you have ever tried to save money on a flight, Georgia is quite literally a fly into state. Also, it’s Georgia. Models predict that Georgia’s number of deaths is going to continue to grow into August (and I love models, especially Adriana Lima, Claudia Schiffer, and Naomi Campbell [Also can you believe Gigi Hadid is pregnant?]). It will be hard to see what the effects of a state relaxing such restrictions will be as many businesses have refused to reopen doors. 

This is relatable on quite a personal level. The actions of Georgia pose the age-old question of what is more important: lives or economic gain. And honestly, in a cost-benefit analysis, the economic gain would probably win, but shouldn’t the lives of citizens be the government’s top priority? (I don’t know, should it? I mean we already have a tiny bit of a debt problem.) Side note on Georgia: Senator Kelly Loeffler has the best hair in the US government hands down — sorry Trump. Lastly, and worst of all, it seems that there is a new demographic at risk— and it is the demographic we would least like to be vulnerable. Winston the Pug of North Carolina is the first American dog to test positive for the Coronavirus. Coronavirus can take my Meemaw, but if it lays hand on my dog I will be thoroughly upset. It has already taken Amazon’s two-day shipping and my graduation. And to add insult to injury, Kenny freaking Rogers died (why didn’t Arts and Leisure Address this? Also, I guess he knew when to fold ‘em). I imagine the final straw would be the Coronavirus taking The Office off of Netflix. That’s when the world as we know it ends.

Until next week,

Taylor (who read three news articles)