America's COVID-19 death toll just crossed 100,000 people.

Masks have become a cultural and political fault line.

In the WHO warns of a second peak, after social distancing restrictions have been relaxed

across the United States.

This is America Dissecting.

I'm your host, Dr. Abdul-Lsaid.

As an epidemiologist, I struggle with the fact that so much of my profession is about

numbers.

Numbers are powerful things.

They help us understand scale and magnitude to understand cause and effect.

But numbers are really bad at conveying the fabric of gain or loss.

What it means to us as humans, as souls.

On Wednesday, the American COVID-19 death toll surpassed 100,000 people.

When folks belittle COVID-19, they often use numbers, comparing it to this or that disease.

Alone, 100,000 is undeniable.

If it killed no one else in 2020, COVID-19 has already killed enough people this year

to be the seventh leading cause of death.

But numbers don't do this loss justice.

When we consider for a second what it means to lose 100,000 lives in four months, the

word meaning isn't even big enough.

Those were mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, friends and lovers.

They were kindergarten teachers and homebuilders and poets and little league coaches.

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