The main problem with the comparison between the coronavirus death toll and various armed conflicts is that those conflicts were, depending upon your perspective, elective events. The Vietnam War, in particular, came to be widely regarded as a blunder, and U.S. leaders were accused of remaining in the war far too long. While war deaths are easy to chalk up to the decisions of politicians who send troops into combat, it’s mostly government inaction that’s at issue with coronavirus deaths, and that’s much harder to pin down. In the case of an outbreak, it’s a balance between what kind of death toll might reasonably have been expected and what death toll ultimately results. ADADTo the extent the comparison between coronavirus deaths and Vietnam is worthwhile, it’s as a measure of the federal and state governments’ failings.

Source: Washington Post April 29, 2020 18:31 UTC