The numbers continue to rise
It will be no surprise to long-time readers of The Legal Genealogist that there have been far fewer posts to this blog in recent weeks.
Numbers like this are the reason why:
This graph, from the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, is just stunning.1
It was just six days ago that the United States passed 160,000 deaths. Then, we were losing one American every 72 seconds.
Today — just six days later — we have crossed 166,000. At the latest rate we are losing one American every 57 seconds.
And using the population estimate of the United States from the U.S. Census Bureau of 329,135,084 as of 1 January 2020,2 one out of every 1981 Americans alive at the beginning of this year has died of coronavirus.
Like most Americans, I am doing my best to trudge forward through these difficult days. I wash my hands. Nothing — and I mean nothing — comes into this house without being wiped down. I do not go out of this house without a mask.
And like most Americans, no matter what I do personally, I am struggling. Trying hard to believe that the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the headlight of an oncoming train.
Because these are sobering statistics indeed.
And there are still so many people out there who are willfully refusing to accept the facts.
I always fully understood that I may very well die someday of something stupid I have done.
But I will be thoroughly annoyed if I end up dying because of something stupid somebody else has done.
And I refuse to have something stupid I have done be the reason why someone else is lost.
Wash your hands.
Wear a mask.
Don’t be stupid.
Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “Sobering statistics,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted 13 Aug 2020).
SOURCES
- “Cumulative Cases By Date,” Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center (https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/ : accessed 13 Aug 2020). ↩
- See “U.S. and World Population Clock,” U.S. Census Bureau (https://www.census.gov/ : accessed 13 Aug 2020). ↩
“But I will be thoroughly annoyed if I end up dying because of something stupid somebody else has done.”
My sentiments exactly.
Peace be with us all.
Take care – I’ve missed your posts – glad you’re hanging in there.
I will try to do a little better on posting… But it’s hard, for us all.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html
Read it completely. Read it again.
And what it says in essence is: wash your hands, wear a mask. Don’t just read it, DO it.
Honestly, it’s so damn simple …
Yup. “But I don’t waaaaaaaanna!” Sigh…
Judy, I could not agree more with your comments in this post. Here is Canada we have been much more fortunate in having cooperative provincial and federal government and health experts who have advised us well and kept us mostly safe. I have written many posts in my own blog about living with the pandemic. I have been amazed that the US, with all your technological expertise and health experts has not fared as well as you should have expected. My latest post commented on this aspect. https://mothernaturestests.blogspot.com/2020/07/living-with-pandemic-41.html I wish all my American relatives and friends all the best and hope things get turned around there soon. Stay safe and stay well!
It has nothing to do with our technological expertise or availability of health experts, and everything to do with our failure of leadership. Sigh…
For sure. I have a knot of fear in my stomach, but then I sing some favorite words…”Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.”
Judy, as usual your comments are Right On! I go out as little as possible, am careful & use mask. Am bored with my own company, and really need to start talking to myself as my voice is getting rusty!
Neighbor works at a major restaurant – chain nr Sacramento, CA. But she won’t work the patio, takeout only. She said too many of the patio patrons won’t wear masks, call it SPAMdemic.
I echo your “sigh”.
Looking forward to your FGS presentation September 2, Judy!
Working on it right now!
Judy, My thoughts from Australia are with you and all your readers. Keep your chins up. You will get through it.
Thank you, John, We are certainly keeping an admiring eye on everyone down under as you work so hard to control this there.
I is always good to read you blog. Like you I have noticed a decrease of online entries (but on Facebook sites). It is hard but I thought staying home might generate more posts.
Stay safe and thanks for keeping us all engaged
Fingers crossed for us all!
Thank you. My thoughts exactly. It is very sad. This is not the way to be “exceptional”.
Thank you for your insights. I believe some come from your experience as a journalist. I did not know that about your career until recently. You “mix” the best of journalism and the law. My thanks for this
Thanks for the kind words.
Judy, you are exactly right. While I understand that if you have the same number of people with the flu and Covid, it’s likely close to the same number of people will die of the disease. However, since over 40% of the US population is vaccinated against the flu every year, most of them that are the most vulnerable. Because of this, that vaccination results in Covid being much more deadly than the flu at this point in time.
I nearly lost my stepson. He caught Covid and was on oxygen for 5 days and recovered. He then developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome, where your immune system is so ramped up fighting off a disease that it attacks your nervous system. Eventually the nerves sending impulses to his diaphram were deadened by the syndrome and he was put onto a ventilator in order to survive. After two weeks on the ventilator, he was removed from the ventilator and his recovery could begin, starting with 6 weeks in a rehabilitation hospital and learning to lift his hands, then to grab things, and finally to walk. It’s been over 3 months since his first diagnosis and he still has a substantial amount of recovery to go.
I’m thankful that I can work from home during this time and my family leaves the house as little as possible, always wearing a mask when going into public spaces.
My point is that while it is a relatively mild illness for most people compared to many pandemics throughout history, there are still a large number of people that are vulnerable to it. What you’re asked to do is not earth-shattering and it won’t cause you a lot of extra effort. Just wear a mask in public buildings. Not doing what you can in order to put this behind us as quickly as possible is selfish at a minimum.