During the 2020 election, multiple public health “experts” claimed President Trump had “blood on his hands” and was responsible for “preventable” loss of life. They expressed confidence that things would improve with a Biden administration, “which is likely to bring a science-based approach to containing the virus.” An editorial in the highly regarded and allegedly apolitical New England Journal of Medicine, wrote that “inappropriate government policies” were responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands, labeled the Trump administration as “dangerously incompetent” and directed its readers (without mentioning his name) to vote for Biden who would set things right.
Things didn’t work out that way.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has just released data showing that 60,000 more Americans died in 2021 from COVID-19 than in 2020. The rate of COVID-19 associated deaths in 2021 rose 20% from 2020, despite the benefit of vaccines that only became widely available in 2021, multiple new therapies, more clinical experience resulting in improved treatment protocols, and a nationwide travel mask mandate imposed immediately after Biden’s inauguration at the beginning of 2021.