I’m 77 years old. I have good days and bad days. In my more lucid moments, I enjoy reading my daily briefing, playing solitaire on my tablet, and talking to the ducks in the pond.
On these good days, I ask my team to let me out of the freaking basement already. But, they continually say “no” because of the threat of COVID-19 or the China Communist Party Virus. Usually, I agree. But…. I also know that they think it’s a good strategy to keep me hidden. So what is the biggest factor in the decision to keep me in the basement? How bad is this killer virus rampaging the world?
I know I’m not super great at math, but I checked the math on this virus thing from the briefing this morning. And it was alarming. But not in the way I thought. Here is what I started with, in rough numbers:
Global population: 7,800,000,000
Global Covid cases: 21,600,000
Global Covid deaths: 769,000
Now, these numbers were too big for me to conceptualize and understand. Kinda like the stimulus packages or current US Debt. So, I simply drew a line through five zeros in each example, across the board, so I could visualize the carnage occurring that is keeping me locked in the basement. This is what I got which is much easier to understand:
Global population: 78,000
Global cases: 216
Global deaths: 8 (rounded up)
So 8 out of every 78,000 people on earth have died …. that’s one in every 10,000 people… ish. I really truly think that it is horrible to have ANY deaths, of course. But, it doesn’t really sound like it’s ravaging and raging through the Global population.
What about the good ole’ USA?
I got confused trying the same trick. So I just used a plain calculator. So far, it appears that we have had 0.05% of the US population die because of Covid or while having Covid… That is a little less than a half of a half of a half of a half of one percent.
Seriously. A half of a half of a half of a half of one percent.
Which is GREAT news. Again, HORRIBLE that there have been ANY deaths, of course. But, seems to me like it’s not a CRAZY killer taking people out like wildfire racing through a dry field. (That’s exactly the description from CNN, for example).
And there are ways to minimize risks. Like mask wearing, washing hands, hand sanitizing, and social distancing.
If you watch TV, you would think that stepping outside would mean sheer and instant death. And that this China flu meant we were all close to guaranteed death.
But, even looking into the percentage of number of deaths in the US, Covid is only attributed to about 1/2 a percent of all deaths. And, only 6% of these deaths list Covid as the only cause. 94% of the people who have died had comorbidities listed on their death certificates. So, I think that this means death by Coronavirus alone in percentage of all deaths is really small. About a half of a half of a half of a half of a half of a percent. I think I got that math right….
At age 77, it’s not a virus I want to catch. Obviously. And, I don’t want to make light of this virus. People do die from it every day.
But if the team wanted me out there campaigning, there are plenty of ways to keep me safe. Trump offered rapid test machines to me and my team. We can do testing. We can have socially distanced events. The media can stay on one side of the room and I’ll be on the other. We could have town halls with limited people in person and a bunch calling in on one of those Zoom thingys. My campaign could be much more connected to people. I could be.
The President of the US needs to be prepared to solve major issues — poverty, problems in the education system, immigration, DACA, healthcare, the environment, global issues, peace …. literally the most demanding and challenging position on Earth. And I’m asking the American people to trust me with these problems. And I can’t even figure out how to leave my basement. Because of something that is a half of a half of a half of a half of a half of one percent of all the deaths in the US this year.
Meanwhile Trump is hanging with his friends with no masks on at what he described as a “peaceful protest” at his Bedminster Golf Club. And brokering Middle East peace deals, and negotiating stimulus packages, and meeting with the press, and giving press conferences, and meeting with different constituent groups. All in one day, sometimes.
So the “alarming” takeaway from this data? That it’s possible that the ONLY reason I’m stuck in my basement is that they think I’m a horrible candidate and need to be hidden from the voters as much as possible. That is alarming to me and, furthermore….. I don’t think that it is possible that I’m the only one that has figured this all out, right?
Come on, man.