Rebuttal

One of the few bloggers that I enjoy reading published an opinion piece the other day that I have a few issues with.  According to him the current pandemic has 7,044 deaths from Jan-April. National news indicates there have been almost 36,000 deaths in the United States as of today, 4/17/20. He also opines that all the "hysteria" is because it is an election year. So if this is true, why is the whole fucking world being effected? I doubt that the majority of humanity is worried about Donald Trump being re-elected this November. 

I've watched two different documentaries on the 1918 flu pandemic. In the U.S., about 28% of the population of 105 million became infected, and 500,000 to 850,000 died (0.48 to 0.81 percent of the population). Source: Wikipedia

Medical experts indicate that the mortality rate probably would have been less had social distancing been practiced. It seems that WWI took up most of the government's attention and resources and the flu was significantly downplayed. Of course, coffins being laid out on the sidewalk to be picked up nightly probably clued the populace that all was not well. 

Anyway, that's my two cents worth.