One of my brothers lives in Germany. He is in his mid forties. He is recently posting diatribes on Facebook about not allowing himself to be ordered into quarantine by his government. He says that people have always died. There have been plagues before, there will be purges in the future. He thinks this is nature asserting itself. He should not be subjected to limitations of his freedom. He calls it his imprisonment.

So I made some comments back, stating that the death rate of this bug is way beyond anything we have seen in our lifetimes.

He responds people will always have to die.

I said, tell that to the 61 emergency room doctors who died in Italy just in the last couple of weeks.

He said that some people are just not in good physical shape. Some doctors were chain smokers.

He said that the average age of Germans who died of the virus is over 80.

I am not sure if that’s true, but even if it is, I am over 60, so I am definitely in the lower end of the death range.

Brother, if I had lived 150 years ago I would have died at age 22 on Good Friday in 1979 when my appendix was about to burst. I am still here, more than 40 years later, because the military surgeon at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona knew what he was doing. Just because people always have died does not mean they should die right now, just because some of us can’t handle simple human cooperation and go along with the other seven billion people in the world with common-sense measures.

Sorry, Brother, I don’t Intend to Die.

I am staying home.

When the Black Plague ravaged the world in the 1600s, doctors adopted head to toe protective gear. They didn’t know how the plague was transmitted, but they thought is was from evil fumes. The beak had two small holes in the front and was filled with perfume, masking the smell. The costume was completed by the wide brimmed leather hat, a sign of the profession of doctor, and a full waxed gown, including leather leggings and gloves.

The doctors also carried a cane, which was used to keep people at a distance. They used the canes to remove clothing from sick people and even to check their pulse.

People were terrified of the costume since it often was associated with imminent death.

First in the world! Today the United States surpassed China and Italy with the most people infected in the world.

I am getting seriously pissed off at the vapid drivel of some of our political right in the United States that still, to this day, calls this epidemic “blown out of proportion by the leftist media” to hurt Trump.

Tell that to the 46 emergency room doctors dead so far in Italy. Do we really think that people dying in Italy has one hoot to do with the political sentiment in the United States? This virus kills. Period.

Let’s put some numbers into perspective, shall we?

There are now 104,000 confirmed cases in the U.S. That has DOUBLED from three days ago. This means that there were as many cases confirmed since Tuesday in the U.S. as there were in all the months since January. DOUBLE in three days.

1,500 people in the U.S. have died from this so far. That means a mortality rate of 1.5%. And – let’s not forget – this is while the hospitals are still staffed, we still have enough beds and doctors and nurses. How many think will die when there won’t be any ventilators for the sick? Simple arithmetic tells us it will be a lot more, perhaps approaching three or four percent as we have seen in other countries.

I guess we won’t have to wait long. It’s still Friday, March 27th as I write this. Five days from now will be April 1st. If the rate of increase stays where it is now, we’ll have 250,000 sick by then, which is likely going to be above the capacity of the major city hospitals. That’s when the bodies will start piling up. Just five days from now.

The numbers do not lie and the rates of increase do not coincide with the wishes of our incompetent national leadership, and the truth will not set us free. Praying is not helping.

I can only do what makes sense to protect myself and those I come in contact with.

But I can say that I am very tired of people in leadership positions acting like this is a hoax or a hype. People are dying by the hundreds, and we’re just getting started.

I have friends all over the world – being part of a reunion group of foreign exchange students from all over the world. I see postings from far away places, like the Philippines, Australia, South Africa, Chile, Guatemala, all over Europe and many other places.

The story is the same one. In every country, all contact has shut down. No travel, no meetings, no entertainment, no shopping, try to work from home, stay away from crowds and groups, cancel even casual get-togethers with friends and even family.

The whole world is staying at home. The whole world has stopped commerce. The whole world is worried about their jobs, their livelihoods. All 7 billion of us are in this together.

In all previous catastrophes that I remember, it was always localized. A terrible hurricane. An earthquake. A volcano. A war. 9/11. It was always just one country. Others could come to the aid.

Not this time. Everyone in the world has stopped normal life. We cannot even fathom what this will do to the world economy.

I see stories about complaints in Germany about this being overblown. I see stories about complaints in the U.S. that this is a “left plot” to bring down Trump. Really? Tell that to the Italian doctors that are dying trying to save the lives of their countrymen!

We’re all in this together. Hopefully we will learn together on how to address calamities that are truly human, not national. Perhaps, after we call come out of this on the other side, can we then address climate change together?

Perhaps we can learn from this?

This is NOT the flu. Here is a good article by a blogger-friend Musings from the Chiefio.

He always makes strong scientific points.

20 March 2020 Covid-19 USA 16,000 Cases, Italy 4000 Dead

Remember a couple of weeks ago? This was the curve we saw in Italy. A couple of weeks ago was March 6, and our government was still denying this is a problem.

Now, I guess, they have figured out this is real, and politics, wishful thinking, and prayer, do not make reality change. This is the curve in the U.S. today, with 19,500 cases, up from a few hundred a couple of weeks ago. The number increases by about 50% a day now. Our curve looks what Italy’s looked like then.

So, if we want to know what will happen, just look to Italy and Iran. That’s what will happen. Those of us with scientific minds, a sense of numbers, and simple algebra knew this weeks ago, but our self-absorbed leadership didn’t want to hear it.

We’re finally recognizing the brutal facts, and wishful thinking isn’t going to fix anything. The term “going viral” suddenly has a whole new meaning.

Now if Trump would just get out of the way, stop opening his mouth, and let the experts lead us, maybe we can all tackle this thing.

Poor Dr. Fauci pic.twitter.com/BFwwE9XS0o

— Rogue Melania🍸🍸🍸 (@RogueFirstLady) March 20, 2020