One Million COVID Deaths Later, Are We Numb?
How Do We Effect Change Before The Next Public Health Crisis?
QUICK READ: At this time two years ago, the United States counted one million American COVID cases. This month, we will face another milestone: one million American COVID deaths. One million deaths has to be transformative. We need a “playbook” guided by public health experts and coordinated by federal institutions that we protect from political dismantling.
TAKE ACTION NOW:
BACKGROUND
At about this time two years ago, the United States counted one million American COVID cases. This month, we will face another bleak milestone: one million American COVID deaths.
Have we become numb? Perhaps, as the Atlantic Monthly wrote: “[t]hinking about it is like staring into the sun, and after two years, it is no wonder people are looking away.”
COVID is now the third most common cause of death in the US. America’s life expectancy rate has dropped two years. One in 75 older Americans have died of COVID.
Blacks and Latinos suffer at twice the rate of their white counterparts. People in red counties die three times faster than their blue counterparts.
As new cases rise, we are sliding into an inadequate federal response. Mask requirements are falling away and Congress has failed to authorize adequate funds for tests, vaccines, and more.
And yet, our collective conversation about one million deaths is subdued.
Vigilance and mitigation is imperative.
One million deaths has to be transformative. We need a “playbook” guided by public health experts that we protect from political dismantling.
“Pandemics are inevitable, but the systemic policy failures that have accompanied the spread of this coronavirus were not.”
ACTION One: Call the Senate.
Script for Oregon Senators
SEN. MERKLEY: Portland office: 503-326-3386 | D.C. office: 202-224-3753
My name is [--] and I'm a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
We must make 1 million American Covid deaths mean something. We need a pandemic playbook guided by public health experts and coordinated by federal institutions. And we must protect ourselves from deadly political game play before the next crisis.
SEN. WYDEN:
Portland office: 503-326-7525 | D.C. office: 202-224-5244
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
We must make 1 million American Covid deaths mean something. We need a pandemic playbook guided by public health experts and coordinated by federal institutions. And we must protect ourselves from deadly political game play before the next crisis.
Script for Republican Senators
D.C switchboard: 202-224-3121
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], [state], [zip code].
We must make 1 million American Covid deaths mean something. We need a pandemic playbook guided by public health experts and coordinated by federal institutions. And we must protect ourselves from deadly political game play before the next crisis.
ACTION TWO: Call the House.
Script for Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01)
Oregon office: 503-469-6010 | DC office: 202-225-0855
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
We must make 1 million American Covid deaths mean something. We need a pandemic playbook guided by public health experts and coordinated by federal institutions. And we must protect ourselves from deadly political game play before the next crisis.
Script for Cliff Bentz (OR-02)
Medford office: 541-776-4646 | DC office: 202-225-6730
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
We must make 1 million American Covid deaths mean something. We need a pandemic playbook guided by public health experts and coordinated by federal institutions. And we must protect ourselves from deadly political game play before the next crisis.
Script for Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
Oregon office: 503-231-2300 | DC office: 202-225-4811
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
We must make 1 million American Covid deaths mean something. We need a pandemic playbook guided by public health experts and coordinated by federal institutions. And we must protect ourselves from deadly political game play before the next crisis.
Script for Peter DeFazio (OR-04)
Eugene office: 541-465-6732 | DC office: 202-225-6416
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
We must make 1 million American Covid deaths mean something. We need a pandemic playbook guided by public health experts and coordinated by federal institutions. And we must protect ourselves from deadly political game play before the next crisis.
Script for Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Salem office: 503-588-9100 | DC office: 202-225-5711
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
We must make 1 million American Covid deaths mean something. We need a pandemic playbook guided by public health experts and coordinated by federal institutions. And we must protect ourselves from deadly political game play before the next crisis.
ACTION 3: GOOD TROUBLE
GOOD TROUBLE: Below are opportunities to fight for our democracy. As John Lewis said, go make some “good trouble.”
Find out more about Indivisible Oregon here.
TUESDAY 11:30am-12:30pm LETTER WRITING PARTY - INDIVISIBLE OREGON:
https://www.mobilize.us/swingleft/event/442887/Fridays at 4 - Letter and Postcard Writing — Indivisible Oregon.
Learn about persuasive language and communication research at the Zoom ASO Movement Briefings every second Wednesday.
Join the campaign to hold the House and Senate at GiveNoGround.org
Work to protect democracy in the House by replacing retiring US Representative Peter DeFazio with another Democrat, replacing Democrat Kurt Schrader, the “Manchin of the House,” with a progressive, and electing a Democrat in Oregon’s new Congressional District 6.
Demand that your primary news source stop creating false equivalencies and just report the truth.
Check out the Poor People's Campaign Readies 'Massive, Nonviolent' Effort to Save Democracy
Outside of Portland? Check out COIN Oregon.
Rally inconsisent Democratic voters to vote in 2022 with Progressive Turnout Project | Feb, 2022 | Medium
FURTHER READING:
The Grief of 1 Million COVID Deaths Is Not Going Away - The Atlantic
Opinion | Are we ready for another covid wave? Not if Congress keeps stalling. - The Washington Post
Recommendations - Pandemic Preparedness | Lessons From COVID-19
The art of the pandemic: How Trump walked the U.S. into the Covid-19 era
How Trump Gutted Obama’s Pandemic-Preparedness Systems | Vanity Fair
New forecast: US COVID-19 deaths will rise to 1 million by spring - Poynter
What One Million COVID Dead Mean for the U.S.'s Future - Scientific American
Why America Became Numb to COVID Deaths - The Atlantic
McConnell says he was wrong on Obama pandemic playbook - POLITICO
