A woman walks through a field of white flags on the Mall near the Washington Monument in Washington, DC on September 16, 2021. The project, by artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg, uses over 600,000 miniature white flags to symbolize the lives lost to Covid-19 in the US. MANDEL NGAN / AFP

676,092 - this is the COVID-19 death toll of the US as of press time. 

If the clock was turned back to 20 months ago when the epidemic had just broken out in the US, no one would believe that so many ordinary people would die from the deadly virus. COVID-19 has now killed more Americans than the 1918-19 flu pandemic - the death toll back then was 675,000, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Not long after the outbreak of the pandemic, the US had already secured its first position in COVID-19 related numbers. Former US president Donald Trump frequently downplayed the virus and compared it with the regular flu. He completely ignored the importance of epidemic control and prevention measures. President Joe Biden, who vowed to tackle the virus since his election campaign, has also failed to control the situation. The US is still sitting on its throne, with a huge lead ahead of the country that ranks second. 

Is it that the Biden administration is also obsessed with "America First" and so is trying to keep the US first even on the list of COVID-19 cases and deaths?

American media elites appear unwilling to accept such a shameful and horrific milestone. They try to exculpate their country by comparing the US population now with that 103 years ago. 

For example, the Washington Post reported, "This moment also requires context. The first obvious point is that our nation's population is much larger now - by more than three times: The US population in 1918 was just over 100 million, compared with nearly 330 million today. So while the 1918 death toll accounted for about 1 in 150 Americans, we're currently at 1 in 500." 

This rationalization is transparent. The US today is far more than three times - and maybe 30 or even 300 times - more developed than it was in 1918, be it technology or healthcare. Then why have such a large number of people died for nothing?

A popular comment on Weibo read, "Some people are much more conservative and superstitious than they were 100 years ago. They are even opposed to wearing masks, getting vaccination and social distancing, which people knew could save their lives 100 years ago."

Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, believes the main reason for the US' poor response to the virus lies in its political and social divisions which have prevented the majority of Americans from benefiting from the world-leading technology and developed features of the US.

"If there is no coordination between political progress and society as a whole, it is difficult for scientific and technological advances to bring about progress and development of society in general," Li told the Global Times. This explains why the US has a plentiful stockpile of COVID-19 vaccines but is still stuck in the quagmire of the epidemic. 

Biden clamors that "America is back." But what has been happening in the US cannot stop people from doubting: Can the US be saved?

"At least in terms of tackling the coronavirus, the US appears hard to save. Besides, divisions in the country will continue to intensify. This means it will be very difficult to reverse the situation in the US," Li noted. 

Time magazine raised a question: "Will the current pandemic unseat the 1918-19 flu pandemic as the worst in human history?" If the chaos goes on worsening in the US, the answer will very likely be "Yes." At that time, the US, and even the West, which has been inept in tackling the pandemic while misleading many other countries' efforts in the face of the virus, will hardly absolve themselves from blame. History will remember the havoc they have brought to the world.