I'm not necessarily saying that my guess of 600,000 dead by September 2021 is completely wrong or anything.
But... let's say, 1,000,000 by mid-April. What happens?
I'm not necessarily saying that my guess of 600,000 dead by September 2021 is completely wrong or anything.
But... let's say, 1,000,000 by mid-April. What happens?
When Europe was hit at first, I saw a discussion on r/europe where people said, if this was America it would be all over the front page. They were wrong, even at the height of the pandemic it was mostly memes and funny animals. And now it's old news. I can easily imagine 1,500 deaths a day becoming the new normal, with an occasional article "COVID-19, the forgotten pandemic", just like you have pieces about "Afghanistan, the forgotten war".
On the other hand, if Trump keeps complaining about election fraud, and then Biden takes office and orders a lockdown to control the virus, things might get really crazy. I don't think Trump supporters can live under Democratic lockdown without acting out.
He's said he won't order a lockdown though. Besides, is ordering a nation-wide one even possible in terms of the powers a president has, especially with a Republican controlled congress and Supreme Court? Then you also have to factor in certain red states or municipalities just refusing to enforce it, and as you said people protesting against it.
He can definitely lockdown the entire country. The president can declare a state of emergency and rule like a dictator if they want.
Utah is currently clamping down. And it's not the first state or city to try.
I think this is something states may try to implement simply as a means of self-preservation. If the very popular sitting President isn't actively heckling the idea, it may open up options for governors.
At the same time, Trump's power is in his social media presence. His influence could continue to scare admins from doing the smart thing if he continues to be a major voice.
I don't know how much power Biden will have exactly, depends also on the Georgia senate race, but he said he is going to listen to the science. Right now there are 100,000 new cases a day, and it's going up very quickly, so I'm expecting some very extreme advice from epidemiologists.
I mean 1500 deaths a day is what this week is going to be in the USA. Last week they already had multiple days where the the death count was over 1200 a day. Hyper normalisation everyone, just try your best to fight against it and stay sane