Just to keep track of the nonsense that has wrecked our economy and generally made our politicians run around as if their fool heads were on fire, each day I publish the corona virus total death toll in the US based upon the latest data I can find. A single death is an immense tragedy if you love the person. However, we are not talking about love, but rather public policy, which should always involve a sober analysis of risk and cost. Please recall that in a bad normal flu year our death toll in the US can be as high as 90,000.
Note: this will be a total death toll since the beginning of this bad farce, and not a daily toll. As of the beginning of June 27 the claimed, as suspect as that claim is, death toll is 127,640. The death toll yesterday was 663 as opposed to 729 last Friday.
The recent uptick in infection rates; based as it is on more widespread testing and including the vast majority of positive cases among those who are asymptomatic, is being used as an excuse to either extend or reinstitute lockdown measures. These actions must be firmly opposed. These figures mean nothing unless they portend a surge in serious cases requiring hospitalizations which will in turn strain our medical system. Unless hospitalization and death rates and numbers are also spiking, there is no defensible reason to reinstitute any restrictions, nor to lift those already in place.