That's twice the size of the entire population of New Haven, Connecticut, and roughly the same as the population of Birmingham, Alabama; Anchorage, Alaska; Scottsdale, Arizona; Fort Wayne, Indiana; or Jersey City, New Jersey.
Yet some real estate salesman turned politician would have you consider that the total is only a minuscule portion of the entire national population. And this is true. With a U.S. population of more than 300 million, a death rate of 300,000 is only 0.001 percent.
No big deal, his supporters say. Besides, that will help build up "herd immunity" for the rest of us. Assuming "the rest of us" are numbered among the survivors.
Granted, those numbers are rounded off and simplified to make a point. Those who are more talented at math will take the total population of 328.2 million, the U.S. Census Bureau's 2019 estimate, and compare that to the latest death count of 186,000 as of today, Sept. 3. Add to that the current death rate of 1,000 or more Americans daily for the next 70 days until Election Day, Nov. 3, and you get 256,000. That's a quarter of a million.
Those who want a more precise number can go to their calculators and crunch the numbers. The rest of us will accept that a quarter of a million Americans dead of a virus that could have been brought under control long since, as was done in other countries, is far too high a number.
So why do so many otherwise intelligent people insist that covering your nose and mouth, avoiding crowds, and washing your hands is a violation of their civil rights?
Unless they believe that being stupid is acceptable behavior in the face of danger. Or as H.L. Mencken is reported to have said, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."
Our resident cynic Pug Mahoney would point to the election of the current president as another example.
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