COVID19 Update - Day 56

US Tests: 7,544,328
US Cases: 1,195,605
US Deaths: 65,307
Worldwide Cases: 3,662,101
Worldwide Deaths: 257,207

The Republican party is a death cult.  One day after learning that the CDC expects the number of cases and deaths to rise dramatically over the summer, Trump decided to give up and return to business as usual.

There is no evidence so far that, in the absence of a vaccine, the virus “will pass” in a way that allows the country to return to a pre-coronavirus “normal.” In fact, it’s the opposite. Trump’s own top scientists say they believe the virus will come back in the fall and may even prove to come back every season like the flu.

But the president argued that not reopening businesses also costs people their lives, in the form of drug overdoses and suicides. 

“People are dying the other way, too.” said Trump. “When you look at what’s happened with drugs, it goes up. When you look at suicides, I mean, take a look at what’s going on. People are losing their jobs. We have to bring it back and that’s what we’re doing.”

Despite the fact that Taiwan, Hong Kong, New Zealand and other nations have proven that the virus can be defeated if the nation is committed to social distancing and universal use of masks, Trump and the Republicans are ready to give up.  Probably because wearing a mask isn't as big and imposing as, say, an expensive, ineffective wall.  It isn't as manly and counterproductive as carrying an AR-15 everywhere.  And despite Republican efforts to whip up racist hatred of China, it doesn't really give Republicans an excuse to demonize non-whites.

It just saves lives.  And Republicans really don't care about saving lives:

Trump's mouthpieces at Fox News and elsewhere then began to parrot the same macabre and disturbing argument.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, told Fox News: "Let's get back to living... And those of us that are 70-plus, we'll take care of ourselves."

Right-wing propagandist Glenn Beck told viewers of his BlazeTV show that Americans who are older should just go back to work and prepare to die: "Even if we all get sick, I would rather die than kill the country."

Mind you, these are Republican politicians who insist that they are 'pro-life'.  Yet they're willing to accept the deaths of thousands of Americans --- so far more than died in Korea --- as just the cost of doing business.

Because they don't want to require people to wear masks.