Speaking of the truth. For this Covid thread, I want to interject some numbers.
We've had pandemics throughout human history and as humans spread around the planet, infectious diseases have been our constant companion. Some have been more virulent, pervasive and deadly than others. However, in recent years, say the last 50, global communication and advances in healthcare have made most less deadly and more short lived.
Rapid response to ebola, MERS and SARS helped to control them.
This one is pretty deadly. The difference is the response to it.
There have been about 20 major deadly pandemics since 1 AD.
Now the global death total is over 600k. That death toll has surpassed the SARS, MERS, ebola, yellow fever and swine flu. Yesterday, it surpassed the 18th century great plagues.
By the end of this year it will leapfrog over the total death count from the Japanese smallpox epidemic of 735 AD, the cholera outbreak from 1817-1923, the Hong Kong flu of 1968-1970, the Russian flu of 1889 and the Asian flu of 1957. Those all killed approximately 1 million people worldwide, At this rate, we'll be there before the end of the year.
The next milestone would be the 17th century great plagues that killed 3 million.