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COVID-19, shootings: Is mass death now tolerated in America?
By MICHELLE R. SMITH
Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) —
After mass shootings killed
and wounded people gro-
cery shopping, going to
church and simply living
their lives last weekend, the
nation marked a milestone
of 1 million deaths from
COVID-19. The number,
once unthinkable, is now
an irreversible reality in the
United States — like the
persistent reality of gun vio-
lence that kills tens of thou-
sands of people a year.
Americans have always
tolerated high rates of
death among certain seg-
ments of society. But the
sheer numbers of deaths
from preventable causes,
and the apparent ac-
ceptance that no policy
change is on the horizon,
raises the question: Has
mass death become ac-
cepted in America?
"I think the evidence is un-
mistakable and quite clear. Garnell Whitfield Jr., left, the son of Ruth Whitfield, a victim of shooting at a supermarket, speaks with members of the media during
We will tolerate an enor- a news conference in Buffalo, N.Y., Monday, May 16, 2022. Associated Press
mous amount of carnage,
suffering and death in the epidemiologist and profes- demic was bad, the Ameri- ally — a million people are most of us have been living
U.S., because we have sor at Yale who was a lead- can response to COVID-19 dead? And you're going pretty reasonable lives for
over the past two years. ing member of the AIDS has sort of ... it's a form of to talk to me about your the past six months?"
We have over our history," advocacy group ACT UP. the American grotesque, need to get back to nor-
says Gregg Gonsalves, an "If I thought the AIDS epi- right?" Gonsalves says. "Re- mal, when for the most part Continued on Page 2