The Latest Corona Numbers, and a Reality Check

We really need to take a hard look at the actual numbers here:

As some of you are aware, the confirmed cases of coronavirus infections have just gone over the one million mark. The numbers of course keep changing, but as of right now – according to one website – there are 1,019,061 of these confirmed cases. By the time I post this article the numbers will have gone up even further of course.

So let me offer some more of the latest numbers about the corona crisis, at least according to this site: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

At the moment some hard numbers on Corona are these:

Globally we have this:
-1,019,061 confirmed cases
-53,293 deaths
-213,525 recovered

And let me look at the numbers for Australia:
-5350 confirmed cases
-28 deaths
-585 recovered

Those latter numbers deserve closer inspection. In Australia the peak death rate has been 3 deaths per day. At no time have there been more deaths than that per day. But let’s average things out, by going back three months. If we divide the 28 deaths over 90 days, we have 1/3 of a death per day.

I just did a quick check: in 2017, there were 160,909 deaths registered in Australia. That means that some 441 people die each day in Australia due to all other causes besides corona – assuming the death toll is roughly the same today as it was a few years ago.

We also know that there are around 90,000 abortions that take place each year in Australia. That means that around 247 lives are lost every day due to abortion. Recall that in the past 90 days 1/3 of a person has died each day because of corona.

The moral of the story is pretty clear: if you are concerned about the loss of life, you should be a whole lot more concerned about abortion than you are about corona, or COVID-19. Let me repeat the daily death figures for Australia:

Abortion: 247 lives lost per day
Corona: 1/3 of a life lost per day

Yes, we should do all we can to stop the spread of COVID-19. But why aren’t we doing all we can to stop the spread of abortion? It takes far, far more lives every day than does corona. When will we start to show some consistency on our concern about the loss of human life? Why the selective moralising?

And let me deal with a few more facts and figures. A new article has just appeared in the Melbourne Herald Sun. It begins this way:

Premier Daniel Andrews has established a Crisis Council to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr Andrews said today he believed a move to stage four restrictions was inevitable, and warned despite a flattening of the curve, there was still a long way to go in the fight against COVID-19. “I think there will be a stage four,” he said.

“I can’t tell you when this is going to end and I certainly don’t want anyone to think that because we have got some reasonable stability at the moment that we are out of the woods. It is not going to be over in weeks, it is going to be months and months. The Crisis Council of Cabinet will be tasked with implementing the outcomes of the National Cabinet. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/coronavirus/nonmedical-hospital-workers-demand-protective-equipment/news-story/bd3f309936241101ad4c68c188eca3e1

So let me see if I got this straight: Australia has seen 28 people die so far because of corona. Victoria has seen seven people die so far because of corona. Using the 90-day yard stick, one-third of a person dies every day in Australia due to this virus, and one person dies every two weeks in Victoria because of it.

Yet Dictator Dan wants to shut Victoria down even further! He wants to grind the state to a complete halt, because less than one person dies every two weeks because of corona. Hmm. I have said all along that we are dealing with two major crises here: the health crisis because of corona, and the national economic crisis due to our response to it.

I have mentioned many times now that the cure can be worse than the disease. I have said that government overreactions can destroy the economy and cost us just as many lives. I have repeated this shocking statistic: during the Great Depression 40,000 Americans took their own lives via suicide.

So economic meltdowns due to government lockdowns can do just as much damage as the virus can. Balance is needed here; great care and caution is needed here. But too many in the media and too many of our political leaders are in full-blown panic mode.

They are preaching gloom and doom, and bringing about the worst possible apocalyptic scenarios. They want to basically impose martial law on all of us, and do not seem to care about the consequences of this. They have a lot to answer for.

As I have said repeatedly now, yes there is a role for government intervention here. But if there is overkill and overreaction, we may end up doing far more harm than good. It is hoped that most of our leaders have our best interests at heart.

But many do not. Many love to exploit a crisis like this and seek to take even more power and more control over our lives. That is one of the clearest lessons of history. Power corrupts, and any excuse will do to take even more power. We must all be very vigilant indeed, not just in washing our hands and social distancing, but in keeping an eye on the expansive state.

[921 words]

18 Replies to “The Latest Corona Numbers, and a Reality Check”

  1. Sadly so true Bill.
    We make an enormous fuss when we lose one planeload of people and spend many millions trying to find the plane in the ocean or to track down those who shot down another planeload. But we, taxpayers, subsidise killing a plane load of unborn children every day in Australia such that abortion is the highest cause of death in Australia, and we wonder why we have an ageing population.
    Leviticus 20 starts:
    The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘(Any one) who sacrifices any of his children to Molek is to be put to death. The members of the community are to stone him. 3 I myself will set my face against him and will cut him off from his people; for by sacrificing his children to Molek, he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name. 4 If the members of the community close their eyes when that man sacrifices one of his children to Molek and if they fail to put him to death, 5 I myself will set my face against him and his family and will cut them off from their people together with all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molek.

  2. Hi Bill,
    COVID19 is a virus which is spread by droplets compared to Tuberculosis is a bacteria which is airborne. COVID19 breaks down with soap and water, as well as it needs a host to be active. According to the Global Pandemic-TB Alliance, “Tuberculosis is a global pandemic, killing someone approximately every 21 seconds — about 1.5 million in 2018 alone.” The Australian Government – Department of Health has online, “The Strategic Plan for Control of Tuberculosis in Australia, 2016–2020: Towards Disease Elimination” by The National Tuberculosis Advisory Committee for the Communicable Diseases Network Australia. COVID19 is a new global pandemic which has required a strategic plan for control which could be similar to TB Disease Elimination. The Australian governments could have prevented the spread of COVID19 by initially strict testing at Australian airports and seaports, as well as quarantine of all active infected travellers. Australian biosecurity measures for humans weren’t as stringent as for plants and animals, so this allowed COVID19 to infect a non-immunised Australian society. All Australian hospitals especially in rural and remote areas are now actively working to increase the numbers of ICU nurses, ventilators and personal protective equipment. The current COVID19 strategy in Australia is working effectively to flatten the curve, so I pray that Australians will practice their part in COVID19 Disease Elimination. Australians shouldn’t want to get COVID19 like they don’t want to experience TB.

  3. The suicide rate in Australia is about 3250 per year.
    If the rate of suicides due to the corona virus kept pace with the Covid-19 deaths we would hardly notice the difference. Would there be a fuss?
    Mind you it is not like that in the USA where the covid-19 deaths since January are already more than 10% of the annual suicides of over 50,000.
    How many ways should we measure the cost of the cure?
    Just on this basis of suicides we are likely to have more deaths caused by the cure, than caused directly by the virus.
    So maybe there are three crises here, the health crisis, the economic crisis, and the third crisis that could be named “moral” or “collateral”, or “social”, or “existential”, whatever – but the third one is as real as the others.

  4. Thank you, Bill, for pointing out the daily occurrence of death and its relationship to the abortion issue, with the latter being what we believers think is an even more tragic loss of life. However, the coronavirus situation has come about because of carelessness and corruption on the part of government and various public officials, and it very well could be an attempt at germ warfare waged by the arch-enemies of the United States and the free world.

    As we all know, the virus situation also is a personal issue because it is circulating due to the carelessness nd/or ignorance of individuals who are spreading the disease. The bottom line is that the people stricken with the virus are just as innocent and subject to chance as the unborn. While it Is beyond tragic that abortion is legal in many parts of the world, this heinous death for an innocent being is chosen by women who traditionally were considered to be be the nurturing half of the human race.

    In conclusion, I do not believe it is fair to say abortion is worse than death from the virus or from an accident because the victims had no choice and/or very little opportunity for any kind of self defense. In the case of the abortion issue and its being legal, believers and other pro-life individuals need to counsel women to choose life for their unborn children. After all, tobacco and alcohol and other dangerous substances are legal, but people can choose not to be partakers or promoters of them.

  5. Thank you both Peter Newland and Bill. I am in tears for the evil of murdering unborn babies and the destruction of our Nation by Communists like Red Dan in Victoria. It is a health crisis that has generated panic and fear and been politically used to take over our once free Nation. It has heralded our demise as a free people . There seems no turning back now? We have lost our future by wide spread abortion and have not turned back to God. The biggest cause of death per day is abortion 257 lives lost. Now we have aborted our Country !

  6. Bill, another website has world and USA figures for abortions.
    I have found that most people are shocked by the figures it provides.
    For example 1.5 billion abortions worldwide just since 1980.
    http://www.numberofabortions.com/

    God bless you!

  7. Thank you Bill, and for your unwavering faithfulness in highlighting the holocaust of the unborn.
    There are several other statistics of causes of death in Australia each year that we should bear in mind also – including deaths from regular flu – to bring much needed perspective to the current economy-breaking restrictions that have been imposed, with the inevitable economic and social devastation that will follow, heralding a sobering-to-anticipate further increase in state control!
    Vigilant with you in keeping an eye on the expansive state. Apart from making people aware of your excellent posts, please suggest what else that we, your readers, could be doing . .

  8. Great post, also Bill the number of children dying every day globally is way over 10000, that is many millions every year and this is not being addressed by leaders etc anywhere near as urgently, yet very preventable as there is more than enough food in our world to feed the hungry.

  9. I have sent this letter to the Editor of The Australian:

    Steve Waterson notes that ‘we lost 20 people to the disease in March’ (National hysteria will lead to disproportionate suffering, W/E Australian Apr 4/5, p.16).

    Thankfully, that’s not even one a day.

    But what about a mention of the 247 lives that are lost per day in Australia, not from disease or road accidents or old age, but by the deliberate termination of their lives by medical procedures, when in the vast majority of cases they are healthy and viable?

    30 deaths from COVID-19 in March and we’re in a panic; 31 times 247 (7657) deaths by abortion that month (and every month) don’t even rate a mention.

    If 30 deaths can be called a pandemic, what name do we give to the other?

    Are steps being taken to reduce these numbers? No – if anything, governments are making it easier by allowing abortions up until birth.

    How is it that we have seen such procedures labelled as normal and common and made legal?

  10. I have no problem contrasting covid-19 deaths and our reaction to it with the tragedy of abortion and our non reaction to it, but I hope we’re not saying that restrictions to our freedoms at present as a response to the pandemic are too severe ?

  11. Thanks Ron. But read the article – what did I say? “As I have said repeatedly now, yes there is a role for government intervention here. But if there is overkill and overreaction, we may end up doing far more harm than good.”

    I have been saying this for several months now. Some government restrictions are in order. The question is, how many and for how long? As I have asked in most of my 20+ articles on corona, might not the cure be worse than the disease if we are not really careful? Those are important and necessary questions that we all should be asking now.

  12. I wrote to Daniel Andrews this week basically saying that while it is commendable that he is concerned about lives being lost to coronavirus, there are thousands of lives to be saved from abortion, so he should also ban abortion. Not holding my breath waiting for it to happen, but we can always pray for him. Like anyone else, he needs the grace of God.

    I was much more encouraged by the leadership of the prime minister; he seems to have grown in the role. Nations going through difficult times need good leadership e.g. Churchill in WWII, and if Morrison can continue to develop his ability to speak to the nation – speeches are always going to be more powerful than tweets, that will be hugely beneficial.

    I was reading Douglas Wilson say that the decisions faced are not a matter of lives vs money but lives vs lives. In other words, lives will be (and are being) lost from the response to coronavirus as well as the virus itself. A response-to-COVID19 death count may be necessary, sadly, just to show to hold politicians and other officials to account.

  13. Hi Bill, Absolutely spot on. Glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks this way!

    I think even some in the media have concerns – see the editorial introduction in The Australian.

    ‘ New normal cannot be this Whitlamesque freak show ‘
    ”The state may be your mate now, but a nation where everyone gets a cheque from Canberra is on the road to penury ‘

    I was a teenager in the Whitlam era and remember it well.

    Always appreciate your insight and encouragement.

    David West

  14. It’s interesting, Bill, that the various governments tend NOT to distinguish between dying ‘with’ and dying ‘from’ Covid 19 (also called Sars Covid -2). So, someone can die ‘from’ the virus, directly and is counted as a Covid 19 statistic; but, if a person dies from a stroke, a car accident, a fall AND also has symptoms of the virus, they are still added to the Covid 19 statistics. Great way to ‘up the anti’ in order to scare-monger and exert control of the Populace.

  15. Yes, compared to abortion numbers the whole thing is a joke. And yes, over-reaction is a good point, but it needs to substantiated with some data modelling to make a convincing case. The main goal of the restrictions is to try to keep numbers low enough to match our very limited intensive care facilites. There is a problem right there – why are we upping the allowance for dole bludgers while forever skimping on nurses? Oh wait – they are ringing up retired nurses and nurses struck off for re-employment, bit late for that. But I still think I would rather lose my job and get a ventilator than suffocate in the waiting room. Am I worried? Nup. But I need to think of the vulnerable. Interesting times – seems to be better for evangelism with people slowing down to think.

  16. Dear Bill,

    Thank you very much for putting death in persective. The MSM doesn’t care a jot about the lives of unborn babies either before the China virus struck or now it is with us.The vast numbers of these little ones who were never given the chance to feel the sun on their faces or experience the joy of being loved and wanted were never worth a mention. Freedom was at stake after all. Well now the freedom they valued so much to murder other human beings has been taken from them so they have turned to the subject of the China Virus which may kill THEM. This is a terrifying thought for them and for many in society because they have never given a single thought EVER to their own mortality and behave as if they are invincible never thanking God for what He has given them. They don’t know or love Jesus. Christmas is all about Santa not the Nativity and Easter is all about the Easter bunny not the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus so why wouldn’t they be totally ignorant about the principal Truths of Christianity which should be meditated and prayed about often? An important part of those Truths are the four last things. Death. Judgement Heaven and Hell

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