How many deaths do we have to suffer?

It took the United States 95 days, on April 28, to record a million cases of COVID-19. Forty-three days later, on June 10, we reached 2 million cases; 28 days later, on July 8, we reached 3 million cases. On July 23, 15 days later, we reached 4 million cases.

This is the exponential growth that we have been warned about. Without an all out war or effort to stem this pandemic, we could soon be seeing a million or more cases a day.

You might recall your parent’s lesson of asking whether you would want a million dollars or a penny doubled every day for a month. Most of us would have jumped at the million, but in a 30 day month you would have over $5 million. A 31 day month would net you almost $11 million.

While that was a fun game to day dream about becoming a millionaire, we are faced with a real life devastation wrought by the exponential growth of future cases and deaths associated with this pandemic. It does not bode well for us.

One can only guess at the number of deaths and job losses yet to come. Yet President Trump maintains, “I’ll be right eventually. I said it’s going to disappear. I’ll say it again: It’s going to disappear — and I’ll be right.”

Trump is correct. He will eventually be proven right. Just as I am right in stating that our sun will eventually die out and this heavenly planet we call earth will eventually be consumed and destroyed by our expanding, dying sun.

But for the foreseeable future, one has to ask how much sickness, deaths, and economic loss will we as a nation have to suffer before Trump is proven right?

Tom Muri is from Whitefish, but writes mostly from Sedona, Arizona, nowadays.