I saw an Internet meme about 3 weeks ago that caught my eye. It came out around Memorial Day, and observed that \u201cmore people had now died from the (Wuhan coronavirus) than were killed in combat in Vietnam and Korea combined\u201d. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m pretty sure the timing was intentional.<\/p>\n
I was reminded of this the other day when we had a series of comments to this article<\/i><\/a>. One commenter apparently was bothered that we \u201cweren\u2019t taking the virus seriously enough\u201d (or words to that effect).<\/p>\n So, longtime readers know what\u2019s coming next. I decided to do a little research concerning the numbers.<\/p>\n Wikipedia \u2013 though suspect at times regarding the political \u201cspin\u201d present in some articles \u2013 generally gets most basic facts correct. And as it turns out, Wikipedia has an article regarding US military casualties in all wars\/conflicts in US history<\/i><\/a>, starting at the American Revolution. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s the bottom line: total combat deaths, throughout US history, for the top 10 US wars is 658,669. For all conflicts combined, that total is around 666,441 \u2013 give or take a few.<\/p>\n We also have historical data concerning the 1918 \u201cSpanish flu\u201d pandemic. That historical data in turn indicates that the 1918 \u201cSpanish flu\u201d pandemic killed roughly 675,000 Americans<\/i><\/a>, and is estimated to have killed between 17 and 100 million worldwide. <\/p>\n Yeah, you read that correctly. Nearly 8,500 more<\/i> Americans died in one epidemic \u2013 specifically, the 1918 \u201cSpanish flu\u201d pandemic \u2013 than have died in combat in the entirety of US history<\/u>. <\/p>\n The 1918 \u201cSpanish flu\u201d pandemic occurred during a time when the US population was barely 1\/3 of what it is today. And unlike the Wuhan coronavirus, the 1918 \u201cSpanish flu\u201d didn\u2019t selectively target the old and\/or unhealthy; rather, it appears to have predominantly killed young and healthy adults in their 20s and 30s. Thus the 1918 \u201cSpanish flu\u2019s\u201d impact on US society, both short-term and long-term, was proportionally far greater than that of the current Wuhan coronavirus.<\/p>\n Yes, the meme\u2019s author is technically correct; so was our recent commenter. But the apparent implication \u2013 that the current Wuhan coronavirus is some form of horrible \u201cblack swan event\u201d that will irrevocably damage or destroy US society \u2013 is not.<\/p>\n If the intent was to say, \u201cPandemics can kill a ton of folks\u201d or \u201cThe Wuhan coronavirus is bad news; be careful\u201d \u2013 well, those statements are correct. They are also obvious as hell, so I rather doubt that was the intent.<\/p>\n But if the intent of either was to say, \u201cThis virus is unprecedented! It could kill US society!\u201d . . . . well, that\u2019s absolute BS. We\u2019ve survived far worse in living memory<\/i> (there are still a few folks still around who lived through the 1918 \u201cSpanish flu\u201d pandemic<\/i><\/a>). <\/p>\n We\u2019ll survive the Wuhan coronavirus as well. Unless, of course, we irrevocably damage our own society through stupidity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"