Pittsburgh Gazette (December 26)
“As terrible as World War II was… COVID is exacting a far bigger toll among Americans.” The pandemic has already claimed twice as many lives in half the time. “And yet the contrast in national harmony and sense of national purpose is dramatic.” The sacrifices required today pale by comparison, but “many Americans regard wearing masks an intolerable inconvenience and practicing social distancing too great a sacrifice.”
Tags: Contrast, Covid, Inconvenience, Intolerable, Lives, Masks, National harmony, Pandemic, Purpose, Sacrifices, Social distancing, Terrible, Toll, U.S., WWII
The Guardian (April 12)
“Japan does not especially want to deliver the prestige of the first major global sporting event since the pandemic started to China.” Cancelling the Olympics would also place “billions of dollars at stake.” But “set against that are the lives that could be lost…. Undoubtedly, the cancellation of the Games would lead to disappointment and financial losses. However, these factors must be weighed against any risk that the Olympics could make the pandemic worse.”
Tags: Cancellation, China, Disappointment, Dollars, Global, Japan, Lives, Losses, Olympics, Pandemic, Prestige, Risk, Sporting event
USA Today (February 22)
“How can we honor the more than half-million Americans who lost their lives to COVID-19 while marking former President Donald Trump’s shameless failure to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ this country and its Constitution? Easy. Let’s bury the dead at Mar-a-Lago.”
Tags: Bury, Constitution, COVID-19, Failure, Honor, Lives, Mar-a-Lago, Preserve, Protect Defend, Shameless, Trump
South China Morning Post (June 30)
“How Hong Kong should cope with the national security law: keep calm and carry on…. It would be best for Hongkongers not to panic, but get on with their lives instead.”
Wall Street Journal (May 12)
“There’s zero reason to apologize for the atomic bombing, which forestalled invasion and saved lives…. Mr. Obama, as well as his Japanese hosts, should appreciate that Truman authorized the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both major military-industrial targets, to help win the gruesome Pacific War as quickly as possible and with the loss of the fewest American lives—and, as it turned out, the loss of the fewest Japanese lives.”
Tags: Apologize, Atomic bombing, Bombing, Gruesome, Hiroshima, Invasion, Japan, Lives, Nagasaki, Obama, Pacific War, Truman, U.S.
The Economist (November 21)
“The West has two things to defend: the lives of its citizens, and the liberal values of tolerance and the rule of law that underpin its society. Where these are in conflict, it should choose policies that minimise the damage to values in order to make large gains in protection. Sadly, in the scramble for security, that principle often seems to be the first thing to go.”
Tags: Citizens, Conflict, Liberal values, Lives, Protection, Rule of law, Security, Society, Tolerance
New York Times (May 11)
“Antibiotics have transformed medicine and saved countless lives over the past seven decades. Now, rampant overuse and the lack of new drugs in the pipeline threatens to undermine their effectiveness.” The last new class of antibiotics emerged in 1987. Today both standard-treatment and last-resort antibiotics often fail due to growing resistance in germs and bacteria.
Tags: Antibiotics, Bacteria, Drugs, Effectiveness, Germs, Lives, Medicine, Overuse, Pipeline, Resistance
The Los Angeles Times (January 21, 2014)
Half a century ago, the Surgeon General declared cigarette smoking causes lung cancer. Since the earth-shattering report, “the percentage of Americans who smoke has dropped by more than half,” with only 18% still lighting up. “Other developed countries have achieved similarly dramatic smoking reductions.” Staggering estimates are put on items such as lives saved and medical costs eliminated. “But this is not the end of the story, sadly.” Cigarette smoking has grown dramatically in developing countries, nearly tripling between 1970 and 2000 alone. “There are now 1 billion smokers globally, almost one-third of the world’s adult population, and smoking rates are increasing in some countries, such as Bangladesh and Indonesia.”
Tags: Bangladesh, Cigarettes, Developed countries, Developing countries, Estimates, Indonesia, Lives, Lung cancer, Medical costs, Smokers, Surgeon General, U.S.
Los Angeles Times (May 17, 2013)
“If the horrific garment factory collapse last month in Bangladesh has any silver lining, it is the response from more than 30 of the world’s leading apparel companies — including Benetton, PVH, Abercrombie & Fitch, H&M, Inditex (Zara), Marks & Spencer and Tesco — to sign an agreement to protect the safety and lives of that nation’s workers, who make the companies’ products.”
Tags: Agreement, Apparel companies, Bangladesh, Lives, Safety