Saturday, May 30, 2020

Time To Show The Better Angels Of Our Nature With Coronavirus

It's vastly below some 20th century flu pandemic rates, pandemics that didn't lead to widespread deprivation of human rights, the possibility of the greatest economic downturn since the 1930s with attendant misery and death and an ominous cry for a "New Normal."

The "Asian flu" of 1957-1958 had a death rate of about 0.67%, and according to the CDC killed an estimated 116,000 Americans and 1.1 million worldwide.

That's 223,000 Americans and 3 million worldwide adjusted to today's populations.

The "Hong Kong flu" of 1968-1969 killed an estimated 100,000 Americans and 1 million worldwide, or 165,000 Americans and 2.1 million people worldwide adjusted to today.

We didn't have state departments of health switching causes of death to beef up death totals, as Colorado has with nursing home patients and even a death by alcohol poisoning.

The Gray Lady didn't publish an entire front page of alleged American disease deaths - with No. 6 being a 27-year-old homicide victim.

We have yet to reach the bottom of that curve when we pass from epidemic to endemic stage, meaning a continuing small but steady number of cases and deaths.

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