Thoughts from the Middle

Food for Thought

COVID-19:  How Serious is this Virus?

By Robert Fischer

While I have been busy working on my next major Thoughts from the Middle article, I have also been thinking about COVID-19.  On one hand, we have President Trump and many of his followers who seem to have little care for the consequences of the virus.  On the other side, we have Vice President Biden and the majority of the medical community Who are very concerned.  President Trump is very concerned with the impact of the virus on our economy.  He does not want to “shut down” business or social interactions.  At the present, it is apparent that the shutdowns have had an adverse impact on many businesses.  Vice President Biden promotes wearing a mask, social distancing, and proper hygiene as a means of handling the COVID crisis.  He promotes the belief that if the virus is controlled, the economy will no longer suffer.

Where does the truth lie?  It is my opinion that the Biden approach makes perfect sense.  If the virus is controlled, businesses can remain open.  People can have social contact.  Schools can be opened.  Follow the CDC guidelines as a nation and the virus will be contained, a vaccine will be distributed, and while businesses, social interactions, etc., may be reduced until the virus is controlled, the United States does not need to “shut down!”

Why should we, the people, care?  I did some basic math to find the answer to that question. As of 2019, the population of the United States is 330,000,000+. The extreme prediction for deaths from COVID in 2020 is 410,000. Thus, we are dealing with less than 1% of the population.  Should such a small percentage be a major problem? Should we shut down for so few deaths? While this is one way to view the statistics, another is to consider the following comparison to the number of deaths due to wars in the United States (I have excluded the Civil War):

War                                         Deaths           

Revolutionary War                      4,435

War of 1812                                2,260

Mexican War                            13,283

Spanish/American War               2,446

WW I                                      116,516

WW II                                      405,399

Korean War                               36,574

Viet Nam                                   58,220

Gulf War                                         383

Iraq/Afghanistan                          6,773

If you leave out WW II and the Civil War, the loss to the United States in all the other wars combined is 304,990.  That is tragic, but less than the total estimated civilian loss from COVID in 2020.  If considered from a humanitarian perspective, I believe that consists of far too many deaths.

Many of these are deaths could have been avoided if only all Americans had adhered to the CDC guidelines!  In addition to deaths, the medical community is only now finding that for many there are long term health issues.  So called “long haulers,” suffer from chronic fatigue.  Others have heart and lung damage.  There are also cost considerations and the unnecessary risk to health care workers who are exposed to the virus. 

 I hate wearing a mask! I hate not being able to hug my children and grandchildren!  I don’t like not being able to have friends over except under CDC guidelines.  Still, if we had all adhered to the guidelines, businesses that are now closed might still be open and we would have had far fewer deaths.