The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has had a profound impact on the United States. In this article, I will discuss the leadership during the pandemic, the consequences of opposing common sense, the alarming rise in deaths, the need for better preparedness, and the failures.

On January 22nd, 2020, Financial articles at Yahoo and other media began writing about defensive stock moves to take if a global pandemic occurs.  On, February 1st, 2020, Democrats suggested Trump’s COVID-19 protective travel ban is racist. On February 5th, 2020, The New York Times published an article saying, the coronavirus travel ban is unjust and doesn't work anyway, “Who Says It's Not Safe to Travel to China?” With headlines like this, it is easy to understand how so many middle class workers died in the USA compared to other nations that virtually did nothing but use common sense.

Leadership and the Fight Against COVID-19

President Donald Trump’s response to the pandemic was multifaceted. While some praise President Trump and his handling of the crisis, others simply acknowledge the efforts made to save American lives. Let’s examine key aspects:

1. Travel Restrictions: On January 31, 2020, President Trump imposed travel restrictions on travelers from China, aiming to prevent the virus’s spread. Over reactive critics labeled this move as xenophobic, but Trump’s common sense and prescience likely saved countless lives by limiting infected travelers’ entry into the U.S.

1. Early Estimates: Epidemiologists initially projected that COVID-19’s entry into the USA could claim up to 2.2 million American lives if no action was taken. President Trump took these estimates seriously and acted swiftly to mitigate the impact while his opposition fought him at every turn.
2. Death Toll Tripled in 3 years: In 2022, the death toll in the USA had grown to from 415,285 to over 880 thousand deaths in just 12 months. Now the death toll is over 1.2 million in just 3 years.  Remember, 415,285 had died by the time President Trump had introduced the life saving vaccines and left office. Thus the death toll is three times worse since Trump left office illustrating a complete failure to seize upon the successes allocated.

The Role of Travel Bans and Their Detractors

Opposition to travel bans during the early days of the pandemic may have inadvertently contributed to the virus’s rapid spread of death. Here’s why:

1. : Many leftest critics dismissed Trump’s travel restrictions as unnecessary or discriminatory. However, these bans were crucial in preventing infected individuals from entering the country.
2. Science and Uncertainty: A study in the journal Science found that travel limitations initially slowed the virus’s spread saving millions of lives keeping hospitals from overcrowding, but couldn’t stop it completely. The virus had already begun traveling undetected internationally^.
3. Balancing Act: While travel bans are not foolproof, they buy time for preparedness and response. The balance between public health and economic interests is delicate.

Alarming Rise in Deaths

The death toll from COVID-19 after 2020 was staggering. Let’s analyze the data:

• January 20, 2021: Deaths stood at 415,285.
• January 20, 2022: The toll rose to 883,903.
• April 27, 2024: A grim milestone of 1,219,487 deaths Astonishingly, death tripled since President Trump left office.

This 200% decline and deterioration highlights the severity of the pandemic and underscores the need for leadership and better preparedness.

Reasons That so Many Died in the USA

• Democrat Leaders Facilitated Importation of COVID from China and Boosted the Spread of COVID - While Nancy Pelosi argued Travel Bans were not good to slow Covid, Pelosi visited Chinatown without a mask as COVID began to surge where she seemed to tell her millions followers to get out and mingle  Pelosi and others ignored social distancing concepts and continued to get caught in places like a Hair Salon’s without a mask.

• The Rachel Maddow COVID Scam - On March 29, 2021, during an episode of The Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow made the following bizarre and uneducated assertion in the transcript: "We all know already if you get vaccinated, that vaccine will basically prevent you from getting sick with COVID, it will prevent you from going to the hospital with COVID symptoms, prevent you from dying with COVID.” Maddow sadly went on to say, "A vaccinated person gets exposed to the virus. The virus does not infect them. The virus cannot then use that person to go anywhere else. It cannot use a vaccinated person as a host to get more people. That means the vaccines will get us to the end of this."  

One of the many reasons that so many died after January 2021 is the ignorance and baseless fraud coming from illiterate or confused media sources. Here is a shocking montage of celebrities and wealthy people claiming that the vaccine prevented infection and transmission. These types of flawed public announcement alone probably caused untold harm and death to people around the world. After viewing this video, it is conceivable that there will still be a class action lawsuit against these people or their networks for consumer fraud.

• Tuskegee Tragedy and Anti-Vax Psychology - The Democrats and FDR's administration were responsible for the secret Tuskegee syphilis assault targeting black men, which significantly influenced the African American community's skepticism towards the COVID-19 vaccines. According to history, the Democrat-run government allowed African Americans with deadly Syphilis to suffer while telling the victims they were receiving some curative treatments.
  
  Tuskegee gave the black men fake injections and watched as these men got sicker and sicker each day suffering horrific injuries. This historical racism during the democrats and FDRs reign is a primary reason why some African Americans were hesitant to accept the COVID-19 vaccines. It is possible that tens of thousands of older African Americans and grandparents died during COVID as they may have been too afraid to trust a vaccine from the government while propagandists like Sen. Kamala Harris said she wasn't taking any Trump vaccine on national news which, again, could have cost thousands of black lives to COVID.
   
• Treatment Protocols Delay - Alternative treatments and protocols for those sick with COVID were not agreed upon for months. Fortunately, a randomized controlled trial based in the UK demonstrated that dexamethasone, a type of corticosteroid, significantly reduced mortality rates among severely ill COVID-19 patients who required respiratory support. By the time that steroids were agreed upon as a treatment, thousands had already died. Anticoagulants and Monoclonal Antibodies were also used to prevent extreme sickness and many other treatments may work.
   
• Protesting Cost Lives - Protestors aggressively congregated without social distancing. Everyone knew that the protestors would spread COVID like wildfire. While not affecting young healthy people often, this protesting undoubtedly infected family members where protestor’s parents or elders were put in harm’s way or died.

Preparedness for Future Pandemic Threats

As we commemorate three years since the pandemic’s emergence, we must consider future risks:

1. Nature’s Threat: Experts believe that a lab experiment or nature remains the most likely source of the next pandemic. A highly lethal strain of bird or swine flu could mutate or be mutated, posing a grave risk.
2. Laboratory Accidents: The possibility of a lab leak cannot be ruled out. Ensuring safety protocols and transparency in research facilities is crucial.
3. National Security: Pandemics are more dangerous than conventional warfare. We must take pandemic threats seriously and invest in preparedness.

In conclusion, Sweden did nothing and had a lower death and mortality rate than the USA and UK in the last 3 years. Moreover, it is shocking that more children died from the H1N1 Swine Flue virus (approximately 1,180) under Obama than from COVID-19 (approximately 1,000) among the pediatric population.

It is still inexplicable that developing nations had better COVID survival than the USA. In places like Nigeria, Haiti, and parts of Africa they did much better than the USA in the last 3 years. This death data and math alone seems to condemn the logic of people like Dr. Fauci and their ability to advocate common sense and basic life saving techniques.

COVID-19 has reshaped our world. As we reflect on the past, we must prioritize readiness for future health crises and learn to consider life-saving treatments beyond just a vaccine. The next pandemic could be worse, and our collective efforts will determine our resilience and survival.

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Commissioner George Mentz JD MBA CILS CWM® is the first in the USA to rank as a Top 50 Influencer & Thought Leader in: Management, PM, HR, FinTech, Wealth Management, and B2B according to Onalytica.com and Thinkers360.com. George Mentz JD MBA CILS is a CWM Chartered Wealth Manager ®, global speaker - educator, tax-economist, international lawyer and CEO of the GAFM Global Academy of Finance & Management ®. The GAFM is a EU accredited graduate body that trains and certifies professionals in 150+ nations under standards of the: US Dept of Education, ACBSP, ISO 21001, ISO 991, ISO 29993, QAHE, ECLBS, and ISO 29990 standards. Mentz is also an award winning author and award winning graduate law professor of wealth management of one of the top 30 ranked law schools in the USA.