The United States passed a grim milestone with 800,000 deaths caused by COVID-19 as omicron variant cases are on the rise across the country. The U.S. also recently surpassed more than 50 million COVID-19 infections. More Americans have died from the virus in 2021 than 2020.
To put these numbers into perspective, the number of fatalities exceeds the population of several major U.S. cities such as Boston or Washington, D.C. It is nearly twice the number of Americans who died during World War 2.
Despite claims earlier in the pandemic that the virus would simply disappear, it is apparent that the coronavirus is continuing to spread throughout the country and the world.
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.