The United States reported more than 2 million cases of COVID-19 this week as the omicron variant is spreading rapidly across the country. Currently, more than 825,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.According to the World Health Organization there have been more than 280 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus since the onset of the pandemic and over 5.4 million deaths. Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, described the upcoming month as a “viral blizzard” which will put great pressure on society.
From the onset of the pandemic the profit motive took precedence over public health and that continues to be the case. There are no signs that the country has any degree of control over the virus and ever will. This grim milestone represents just another failure of the profit-driven capitalist economic system at protecting public health while it continues to serve the interests of the oligarchs.