25,000 Americans died in the Revolutionary War, so these fatalities are eight times the death toll of that conflict.
15,000 Americans died in the War of 1812, so these fatalities are 13 times the death toll of that conflict.
214,000 soldiers on both sides were killed in the American Civil War, so these fatalities nearly equal the military death toll of that conflict. (Another 450,000 people died in that war of disease and other causes. If Americans re-elect Trump, it is entirely possible that the death toll will equal the entirety of the Civil War before it is all over).
116,000 Americans died in WW I, so these fatalities are nearly twice the death toll of that conflict.
405,399 Americans died in WW II, so these fatalities over six months are about half the death toll of that conflict, which lasted four years.
36,516 Americans died in the Korean War, so these fatalities are about five times of the death toll in that conflict.
58,209 Americans died in the Vietnam War, so these fatalities are about three and a half times those of Americans that conflict. (A million to two million Vietnamese died, and we are approaching 10 to 20% of that death toll).
2,977 Americans and US residents, including Muslim-Americans were killed by 19 terrorists on September 11, 2001, so these fatalities are 67 times the death toll of that attack.
4,497 Americans died in the Iraq War, so these fatalities are 44 times the death toll of that conflict.
2,216 Americans have died in the nearly 20-year-long Afghanistan War, so these fatalities are 90 times greater than that conflict.
We have a Memorial Day for these war dead, but our president gives himself an "A" for his pandemic response and the victims of his magical thinking go unmentioned in his speeches (and on his state media organ, Fox Cable News).
It did not have to be like this.
South Korea has had 388 deaths from COVID-19. That would be like 2,479 US deaths because of the disparity of the two countries' populations. That is just over 1% of the US death toll. The IMF and World Bank rank South Korea as the world's 12th largest economy. But it only has a GDP about a 12th that of the United States. Its population is somewhat larger than California's.
South Korea is open and leading a normal life, even if people still mostly wear masks when they go out. The US is not, and is in mourning.
Walkscapes: Walking around Hongdae Street at Night, Seoul, Korea
There is no particular mystery about why South Korea has addressed the pandemic so much more expertly than the US. In January it asked private sector biotech firms to come up with an effective test, and they did. The government set up testing centers all around the country early on. It traced the contacts of the people who tested positive and quarantined them. People wore masks and gloves when they went out. They kept their distance from strangers. They kept most of their factories and malls open. They even held an election without an outbreak, with 29 million votes cast.
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