That's the number of Americans who have died from COVID-19 to date.
But you never hear numbers like that from the media. You hear how many new cases have been identified every day, and how we should all cower in terror and let the government declare total martial law.
The number of deaths is a statistical anomaly -- 350 as of March 22, in a nation of 330 million people.
Even in Italy, the hardest hit country, the number of deaths is 0.009% -- 5,500 deaths in a nation of 60.5 million.
The global number of dead is about the same as in the United States -- just under 0.0002%. That's 14,687 deaths out of a population of 7.7 billion.
The flu kills far more than this every year, and we don't declare worldwide martial law over the flu. So far this year, the flu has killed around 20,000 in the United States -- compared with 325 dead from COVID-19. Put another way, the flu is 60 times deadlier than COVID-19.
But it doesn't matter, as the feedback loop of fear is slowly pulling the entire nation into an enforced lockdown. I've seen people proclaiming that "tens of millions" will die. I know another who said "this is worse than AIDS." That's the unbridled hysteria that's allowing governors, presidents, and prime ministers everywhere to force the world into house arrest. In some corners of the world, people are being arrested for leaving home without a government-approved reason. In Wisconsin, one county has set up a website where you can snitch, Soviet-style, if you see any public gatherings of more than 50 people.
This is where we are, with all proposed "cures" being far worse than the disease, and with all reactions completely out of proportion to the danger posed. What good is it to "save the world" from a mutation of a bug that goes around every flu season, if we destroy the economy, our freedoms, and our entire way of life in the process? The insanity recalls the Vietnam era, when "we had to destroy the village in order to save it."
Even here in the middle of nowhere, small businesses are willingly committing suicide by shutting their doors, while people cheer them on by saying "thanks for being safe."
Our family has been taking advantage of patronizing what stores and restaurants we can before they shut their doors, in many cases forever. One eatery we enjoy will be shutting down after today; we wanted to show them our support before the end. The staff were very pleasant, but you could feel the sense of despair and finality in the air. I'm sure they were all wondering how they were going to feed their kids after today.
I grieve for the families who will face financial ruin over all this. For those who panic at the thought of being made prisoners in their own homes. For the fact that our old ways of life will never return. Because it increasingly appears that 9/11 was just a trial run for this madness. Back then, those in power got to see how much we'd give up in our fear. If the lockdowns do ever end, expect mandatory vaccinations, health checkpoints on the roads, temperature checks before you can enter public events, GPS tracking to make sure you don't go where you're not allowed to, and denial of travel and services if your microchip shows you're not in compliance with all health mandates or pose a health risk.
Don't laugh, This will be our world. And most people will embrace it with open arms. "Better safe than sorry."
All this, over 0.0001%.
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