Why Are We Destroying the Economy for This?
DON’T LIVE - YOU MAY DIE
(or Why are we destroying the economy for this?)
Note: All figures below are from the CDC, National Health Center and worldometerinfo
As of April 8, 2020, there have been 14,768 deaths associated with the coronavirus in the U.S. out of a population of 331 million. In California, there have been 507 deaths out of a population of 40 million.
In the 2018-2019 flu season in the U.S, there were approximately 35 million cases of influenza, 16 million medical visits and 55,672 deaths from flu and pneumonia. When this happened, we did not close our livelihood, the economy, or put 10 million people (and rising) out of work. In fact, these numbers were not frightening or even news.
Let’s add a more dramatic perspective regarding the ways you may die this year which are infinitely more likely than the coronavirus.
U.S. annual causes of death (rounded to the nearest thousand):
Flu and Pneumonia 2018-2019 - 56,000
Heart disease - 647,000
Cancer - 599,000
Unintentional injuries - 169,000
Lower respiratory disease - 160,000
Stroke - 146,000
Alzheimer’s - 121,000
Diabetes - 84,000
Auto accidents - 40,000
The death rate in California by car, as of now, is 10 times more likely than the coronavirus. Should we stop driving?
Many of the deaths above are associated with smoking, which, according to estimates of the CDC, kills 1,300 people a day.
Let’s add some global facts to this global coronavirus mania. Worldwide, the coronavirus as of this date, is associated with 88,444 deaths out of 7.8 billion people. That is 0.00001% of the world’s population.
Global deaths from other causes from January 1, 2020 to the present (just the last 3 months) are as follows:
Seasonal Flu - 118,980
Mothers during childbirth - 75,645
Suicides - 262,441
Traffic accidents - 330,367
HIV/Aids - 411,415
Alcohol - 612,105
Smoking - 1,223,449
Cancer - 2,009,990
Looking at history, the 1918 Spanish flu infected 500 million globally and killed 50 million while we fought a war.
So, I ask again, “Why are we destroying an economy over the current situation?” To date, we have put over 10 million people out of work and will likely suffer more deaths in the long run from this frustrating and stressful situation from heart disease, depression, suicides, drugs, drinking, debt and financial loss, destruction of families, domestic abuse, lack of exercise, interruption of education, and potential destruction of our currency with unbridled debt and printing of more money. Is it necessary to destroy millions of lives to prevent a temporary and miniscule death increment over the other myriad of reasons we might die when we get out of bed and leave our house? We are all going to die of something someday.
“Increasing dependence on government and passively accepting that some “elite” somewhere knows best about our welfare is much more dangerous that the Wuhan virus. The natural desire to be “safe” often suppresses the need to be free. But abandoning one’s own responsibility to provide for their own safety will result in government tyranny. And you will still die.”
State Rep. John Fuller, R - Kalispell
Albert Einstein once said “There are two things that are infinite: the universe and human stupidity and I am not sure about the universe.”
Or as Ben Franklin said “For those who wish to give up freedom for security, you may soon find you will have neither.”
