The market-driven practices of corporations like Delta Airlines also likely helped spread the virus, too. So did the insistence of the Trump White House, and of governors (including New York's Andrew Cuomo), on delaying decisive action to reduce the spread of the virus -- delays grounded in both hubris and economic calculus.
("Excuse our arrogance as New Yorkers," said Cuomo on March 2, "... we think we have the best health care system on the planet right here in New York.")
Capitalism is also behind the calls for "herd immunity"calls that included Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick's plea to his fellow senior s. "We are crushing the economy," said Patrick, "... there are more important things than living."
This reflects an ideology that openly places profit above human life. Its values are a plague on the world economy, and its global economic dominance is the vector that spread COVID-19 from the wet markets of China to the free markets of the United States. The virus is capitalism, and the vector is globalization. As the death toll continues to mount, more people may be looking to immunize themselves from a disease that's as new as the latest mutation, and as ancient as greed itself.
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