A million have died of Covid-19 in America. How did this happen? | Ross Barkan

One million people should never have to die from another pandemic. Not in America, a country built to do so much better

One million have died from Covid-19 in the United States, a catastrophic milestone that was reached despite the wonders of modern science and the wealth that courses through this country. More than two years into the pandemic, it is hard to shock people any longer. One hundred thousand deaths, it seemed, attracted far more attention.

How did we get it here? How much of this mass death was preventable? These are questions that we will be sorting out for many years to come. There are no simple answers. In order to have a fighting chance in the next pandemic, though, it's incumbent to consider just what went horrifically wrong.

Ross Barkan is a journalist based in New York City. He is the author of Demolition Night, a novel, and The Prince: Andrew Cuomo, Coronavirus, and the Fall of New York