People, it’s not just us

Dear Fellow Survivalist;

I’ve been hearing arguments about how the mainstream media has exaggerated the COVID-19 pandemic ever since it started. Now that we’re dealing with a surge in several states, they’re beating that drum again. I expect they’ll beat it all the way to election day, in an effort to try and sway the election.

On the other side of the political aisle, conservative pundits are decrying the mainstream media narrative and, as usual, going to the other extreme. They’re focusing on the low mortality rate of the disease, saying that we shouldn’t be concerned about a disease with a 99.9% survival rate. Many are taking the stand that wearing a mask is an infringement on their rights and therefore we shouldn’t obey mask orders.

So who’s right?

How about nobody?

How about, the truth is somewhere between the extremes? How about, we need to think of this rationally, not politically? Those who are politicizing the issue aren’t doing a thing to solve it.

Every year, somewhere between 9.3 and 49 million Americans come down with the flu. That’s somewhere between 5% and 20% of the population. Since the 1970s, between 3,000 and 49,000 people have died from the flu, here in the United States, each year.

Okay, so lets’ do a little math. If we take the best case of 9.3 million cases and divide it into the worst case of 49,000 deaths, the result is that 0.53% of the people who get the flu each year, die from it. That’s not the official mortality rate, which takes other things into consideration; that’s just a simple calculation.

Now let’s look at where we are with COVID-19. As of this writing, 2,837,189 people have been tested positive for COVID-19, whether by testing for the virus or testing for antibodies. Of those people, 131,485 people have died. The math on that works out to 4.63% of the people dying of COVID-19.

Now, before you say that those death tolls are elevated, because they’re counting anyone who even has COVID-19, even if they die of something else, let me ask you a question. Would those people be alive today if they didn’t come down with COVID-19? Probably not. So, while the numbers we have may not be perfect, the reality is that people are dying of COVID… a lot of people.

The other argument that’s being used is that our numbers are spiking now because we’re doing more testing. I agree. But all that means is that those cases had gone undetected until now. I’m hoping it means that the percentage I just showed you is going to go down; but from where I sit, here in Texas, it doesn’t look that way yet. If anything, I’m seeing a rise in deaths, as well as a rise in cases, even though there is an overall decline in the number of deaths per day on a nationwide basis.

But you know; the thing I keep coming back to is that we here in the United States are not alone in dealing with this disease. It’s not our government that’s selling us a lie. It can’t be. If it was, then how can anyone explain what’s happening in the rest of the world? No, this is a worldwide problem.

So why are there so many more cases here in the US, than anywhere else?

You’ve probably asked yourself that question a time or two. I know I have. Okay, so let’s look at it. First of all, the United States is the third most populous country in the world. We know that China, the world’s most populous nation, where the disease comes from, has been lying to the rest of us all along. If we were to believe them, then they’ve only had an additional thousand or so cases in the last couple of months. But yet they’ve had to establish two separate quarantines, locking down hundreds of millions of people. That doesn’t jive.

As far as the rest of the world’s most populous nations, other than Russia, they’re just not doing much testing. India, which is the only other country that’s larger than the USA, has only tested 6,562 for every million people in their population, a total of 9,056.173 tests. By comparison, we’ve tested 105,414 people per million of our population, for a total of 34,892,789 tests. Quite a difference.

Based on that, I would have to say that not only are there many more people in India who have COVID-19 than have been officially reported; but that there have been many more who have died of COVID-19, who were never tested, so are going unreported as well.

Mexico, which is a lot closer to home, has only tested 4,892 people for every million of their population, for a total of 595,917 tests. I just received a report that they are only testing people who are serious enough that they are being hospitalized. Yet I know people in Mexico who have died of COVID and never once went to the doctor. They just put up with things there, mostly because they can’t afford to go to the doctor. So they die, and they probably aren’t counted in the statistics.

Folks, please don’t accept the story that this is not serious; it is. At the same time, I’d ask you not to accept all the fear mongering that’s going on. The truth is probably somewhere between the extremes. Unfortunately, we’re still not going to know what that truth is for quite some time. we’ve got to wait and see how it all pans out.

In the mean time, I’m doing what I can to protect myself and my family. I’d ask you to do the same too. We’re the ones who are supposed to know how to do that; not expecting the government to do it for us. This sure looks like an ideal time for us to practice that, just in case things are going to get worse.

So, as I always say, keep your powder dry and your survival gear close at hand… and don’t forget your mask and your hand sanitizer either.

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