WASHINGTON — From being called a "war without bullets," by on doctor, to President Donald Trump declaring, bluntly, "we're waging a war against the invisible enemy" – the coronavirus for some has taken on a war-like quality.
But as the nation's death toll looks to soon surpass that of American soldiers lost in the Vietnam War – roughly 58,000 – there are parallels to the efforts to slow the spread of the virus and sacrifices endured by the nation during wartime.
Companies like General Motors, Ford Motor Company and other titans of American industry have entered the effort to combat the coronavirus by making face masks and ventilators instead of cars. It bears similarities to when these same companies built planes, trucks and more to help support wartime efforts during World War II.
Sports, too, has been impacted in a way only comparable to wartime. While sports are not being played at all during the coronavirus pandemic, World War II saw more than 500 Major League Baseball players pick service to their country over getting paid to play the game they love. Though baseball was never canceled during World War I or World War II, it was considered during both wars.
President Trump even recently used wartime powers to help pass emergency legislation to help the country's economy and to force companies to help make ventilators and face masks.
Whether you believe this is a war or not, a few facts are certain: more people will die from this virus in the U.S. than American troops lost in the Vietnam War; more than a million American citizens have contracted the virus; and life, as we have known it, will not soon return to what we have grown accustomed to.