There's a
flu pandemic
every winter.
Few people notice.
Typically 300 to 600
million people get the flu,
and 300,000 to 600,000
die from it every year,
on our planet,
( mainly from October
through March in the
Northern Hemisphere ).
The 2017 / 2018
U.S. "flu season",
from October 1, 2017,
through March 2018,
had a roughly estimated
45,000,000 infected,
and 61,000 died.
It was a worse
than usual U.S.
flu season, for
ordinary strains
of flu viruses.
Did the mass media
ever report that
bad flu season ?
COVID-19
has extended the
"flu season" this year,
with a new virus that
is mild, or has no
obvious symptoms,
for about 80%
of those infected,
making it very easy
to spread.
For about 20% of those
infected, the symptoms
are not mild, and about
one percent of all people
with infections will die.
There are premature
deaths that the many
ordinary flu strains
would not have caused.
And a much greater need
for hospitalization than
ordinary flu strains.
Some hospitals are
so overcrowded with
COVID-19 patients,
that service can't be
as good as usual.
The negative
economic effects
alone have already
caused the pandemic
to disrupt many lives,
and it is certainly
not over !
Governments have tried
to shut down entire cities,
ban travel, and isolate
nations.
Those actions
cause an
"Instant Recession"
for every week
lots of people
are forced to be
unemployed.
I find it hard to believe
many leftists consider
global warming to be
a similar existential
threat.
They see governments
shut down workplaces,
and restrict movements,
to fight COVID-19.
They believe
governments
would be justified
to take equally
drastic steps
to reduce CO2
emissions.
That's not what
I learned from
COVID-19.
LESSONS
FROM
COVID-19
(1)
Computer game
predictions of
future flu deaths, or
future anything else,
are nearly worthless,
(2)
Fast public buy-in
to collective actions
require strong
evidence of the
need for such actions.
Hong Kong
residents,
for one example,
had suffered
during the first
SARS epidemic,
( COVID-19 is
the SARS 2 virus ),
so they voluntarily
canceled gatherings,
and practiced social
distancing, BEFORE
the government
ordered such actions.
(3)
A real crisis,
such as COVID-19,
is obvious from the
media photographs
and death counts,
so the general public
will allow governments
to seize great powers,
for the common good.
An imaginary crisis,
such as the coming
global warming crisis
( aka "climate change" )
is very different:
There have been
no deaths, and
no evidence anyone
has ever been hurt
by the intermittent
global warming
since the 1690's,
of at least
+ 2 degrees C..
So why would anyone
with sense consider
tearing down our
foundation of
economic growth --
the inexpensive,
consistent energy,
mainly from burning
fossil fuels ?
And replacing those
dense, inexpensive
energy sources,
relatively clean
with modern
pollution controls,
with the expensive,
intermittent,
low density sources
of energy -- wind
and solar power ?