I read recently that some medical people have predicted 400,000 deaths

[Marthe48]

11. My friend and I were talking about death toll last night

My great-nephew is taking classes at home, but entered sports. He was exposed to a covid positive person, and is now isolated for 2 weeks. The local radio station jubilantly announced last week that they would air local h.s. football games. I saw a headline that 30% of college student athletes, even if they are asymptomatic, have myocarditis. My grand kids started school today, going to the building. It is a small school population, in an older elementary building. They were masked in their first day photo, and I hope they are responsible about being careful all day. I don't think that any group gathering is a good idea, and I'm scared to death for anyone who is part of the crowd. Locally, the only thing that is cheering is that the numbers of confirmed cases is low, but how many people have actually gottten tested?

My friend and I discussed the things we've heard, and agreed that there will be more deaths, that a safe vaccine isn't gong to be a magic bullet, and Covid-19 is here to stay. I track the mortality rate every day on Worldometer, and post the update for Ohio every day on facebook. I read here on DU about exponentiation, but I don't need to do the math to see the numbers are going up with the grim inevitability of death. It is hard to stay upbeat.

I think it was different for people who lived through the Spanish Flu epidemic. I don't think researchers even had an inkling of the death rate for that pandemic until the 1980s. We get to see every day how diminished we become.