As of St. Patrick’s Day – only six short days ago – there were 5,000 cases of the Wuhan flu in the U.S., reports Roger Kimball in Spectator.us. As Mr. Kimball notes, 95 people have died from it. “Ninety-five.”
Over 25% of Deaths from One Place
Of those 95 deaths, 25 are associated with one place – the Life Care Center of Kirkland, Washington, a long-term, critical care facility.
Most of those who succumb to the disease are over 80 and have a variety of other ailments. Nevertheless, CNN, possibly the single most irresponsible faux-news organization in the country, described the Wuhan flu as a ‘pandemic, unprecedented in modern times’.
Have we all forgotten 2009, the year the H1N1 virus infected more than 60 million in the U.S.? The result from that virus was some 270,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 deaths, reports Roger Kimball.
So far this year, there have been at least 22,000 fatalities from the common or garden variety flu. Estimates offered by the CDC for US fatalities from the flu go as high as 50,000. Fatalities include young and old. No one under the age of 10 has died from the Wuhan flu.
Nauseating Declarations of Moral Enlightenment
Roger Kimball is threatening to collect the notices now flooding his email inbox from various organizations and businesses announcing their closing.
Most are not simple bulletins. Rather, they are nauseating declarations of moral enlightenment and fine feeling. ‘In the interest of public health and the health and well-being of our staff,’ reads one, ‘effective Wednesday, March 18, we are requiring all staff to work remotely through at least April 6.’ Requiring, you see: that’s an order! At least until April 6. Maybe forever. ‘In the interest of public health,’ forsooth.
Tucked into the flood of commentary about the Wuhan flu is intermittent mention of Farr’s Law. I wish more people would absorb its lessons. First formulated by the British epidemiologist William Farr in 1840, it states that epidemics, like so many things in life, develop and recede according to a bell-shaped curve. This happens with or without human intervention.
The Awful Truth – a Wizard of Oz Scenario
There is no malignant demon behind the curtain. Only CNN commentators and megalomaniacal mayors.
How long until people realize that the real crisis is not the disease but the panic? — a panic, by the way, that is assiduously fed by a disgusting and unaccountable media and orchestrated by equally disgusting and power-hungry politicians who think they can close businesses and order people not to leave their homes with immunity.
P.S. In the Age of Coronavirus: a Homemade Throat Sanitizer.
P.P.S. If you can’t find hand-sanitizer, you can make your own.
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