![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2020\/03\/EndIsNear.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Now, I have already offered<\/a> blistering critiques (two times<\/a>) of the political and theological \u201cright\u201d and how they have exploited the present crisis to set forth goofy, wacko\u00a0 conspiratorial, apocalyptic theories of God\u2019s judgment and wrath, and why He is supposedly judging etc. But there is also a need to critique what is going on, on a wide scale, on the\u00a0political and theological left<\/em> (or \u201cnon-conservative\u201d observers, if you will).<\/p>\n I have maintained for many years (my main article on this is 18 years old) that orthodox Catholicism is neither \u201cright\u201d nor \u201cleft.\u201d<\/a> It transcends those categories. And theological \/ ecclesiological dissidents on both the right and left end up espousing the same characteristics: pick-and-choose what they like of Church teaching and authority (\u201ccafeteria\u201d Catholics), and arbitrarily dissent wherever they choose: making private judgment their idol rather than consistently abiding by the biblical and Catholic notion of the magisterium and an authoritative, binding Church authority (infallibility and indefectibility).<\/p>\n But that takes us into very deep waters. Here I merely wish to chronicle some of the more dire and gloomy predictions coming from the left and\/or independent end of the spectrum, observed at Patheos Catholic<\/em>, where my own blog is also hosted.<\/p>\n Brian Fraga<\/a>\u00a0(assuredly very mild and temperate, compared to other examples below) wrote on 3-25-20:<\/p>\n I\u2019m reminded of his straight talk these days as we all deal with the coronavirus pandemic, which has upended our lives and created a national crisis on a scale that we arguably have not experienced as a nation since World War II. Thousands of people have been infected, hundreds are dying every day,<\/a>\u00a0and we\u2019re probably still weeks, if not months, away until the worst has passed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I don\u2019t see how this is true (at least not so far if it is still to come). The current yearly flu epidemic in the US is far worse than coronavirus has been here (again, at least so<\/em> far):<\/p>\n The CDC estimates that so far this season there have been at least 22,000 deaths, 36 million flu illnesses, 370,000 hospitalizations.<\/p>\n The 2019-2020 influenza outbreak is moderate to low in overall severity, but hospitalization rates are high among children and young adults.<\/p>\n \u201cRates for children 0-4 years and adults 18-49 years are now the highest CDC has on record for these age groups, surpassing rates reported during the\u00a02009 H1N1 pandemic<\/a>,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n A total of 144 influenza-associated deaths in children have been reported this season. That\u2019s an increase of 8 since last week\u2019s report. (\u201cUS flu death toll hits 22K, hospitalization rates high for children, young adults\u201d<\/a>: updated on 3-13-20)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n By contrast, total deaths from coronavirus in the US, as of 47 minutes ago, according to Johns Hopkins University, stand at 1,046, with virtually no deaths of children and hardly anyone under 40 years old (and when they do \u2014 very rarely \u2014 occur, they are almost always associated with existing serious medical conditions). To put this into perspective, the coronavirus deaths right now<\/strong> are 5%<\/strong> of the current flu deaths<\/em>. Moreover<\/a>:<\/p>\n [A] research team led by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated the global death toll from the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic [swine flu] at more than 284,000, . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The current worldwide death toll from coronavirus is 22,184, or 8% of the figure<\/strong> <\/em>during the swine flu epidemic 10-11 years ago. It will grow (we know not how much), but that\u2019s what it is so far.\u00a0 Perhaps the most prominent and\/or influential epidemiologist in the world is already greatly walking back his original projections (see below).<\/p>\n Mary P.<\/strong> wrote on 3-23-20<\/a>:, about New York state alone<\/em>:<\/p>\n [T]hree hundred ninety-two thousand are predicted to die. 342,000 of those people marked for death might be saved if the whole state remains sheltering in place and if we\u2019re very fortunate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Really<\/em>? The current death toll in New York (unarguably the worst place in the country right now, for infection) is 366. But Mary thinks up to 392,000 may die there alone<\/em>? That\u2019s 17.67 times the number for the entire world right now. She lives in an alternate universe.<\/p>\n Rebecca Hamilton<\/strong> offers a treasure-trove of passionately stated hysteria and out-of-control rhetoric:<\/p>\n He [President Trump] has now made it clear that he intends to deliberately and with full knowledge of what he is doing sacrifice the lives of \u00a0a minimum of around 5% of the population in order to get the economy going. . . .<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s toady press is working overtime to sell Trump\u2019s followers on accepting their own deaths at the hands of their president.\u00a0 (3-25-20<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The estimated US population<\/a> right now is\u00a0330,488,824. 5% of that total is 16.5 million people<\/em>. Rebecca would have us believe that this is the number of people President Trump (whom she calls a \u201cmonster\u201d and \u201cprobably a psychopath\u201d) deliberately and with full intent desires to be allowed to die in order to save our economy (it\u2019s almost the Holocaust x 3). She, too, lives in a fantasy world of her own making.\u00a0 Does she not own a calculator<\/em>, for heaven\u2019s sake? But that\u2019s not all:<\/p>\n [N]ow some of the so-called pro life people in the Republican Party are pushing for indirectly euthanizing elderly people for the sake of the economy.\u00a0(3-24-20<\/a>)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is a complete distortion of what one person said, but it\u2019s so self-evidently a twisting, that I refuse to waste any time showing how<\/em>.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Neil Ferguson<\/strong>, the scientist behind the\u00a0bombshell coronavirus study<\/a>\u00a0that influenced Trump\u2019s decisions and mentioned a 15-day shutdown, which stated that 500,000 Brits and 2.2 million Americans might die if strict measures were not undertaken, is now on record stating that because quarantine \/ social distancing measures being taken in the UK and the US (that he had recommended in his study) are working and vastly lowering the death rates, that he thinks the death toll will be\u00a0less than 20,000 in England and possibly much lower<\/a>.\u00a0He also believes that the hospitals in the UK and intensive care units will be able to handle the virus. As of right now, total coronavirus deaths in the UK are 479.<\/p>\n One English article<\/a> noted:<\/p>\n Influenza can lead to thousands of deaths a year, with the University of Oxford stating that in 2008-2009, there were 13,000 deaths in the UK alone related to the flu.<\/p>\n The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that an average of up to 500,000 people die annually across the globe due to the flu.<\/p>\n Since October alone, 20,000 people died from flu complications in the US, . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Have you also heard that Dr. Anthony Fauci<\/strong>, a giant in the field, is supposedly fighting with the President? Not according to his own report<\/a>, as of two days ago:<\/p>\n \u201cThat is really unfortunate. I would wish that would stop because we have a much bigger problem here than trying to point out differences,\u201d Fauci said. \u201cThere really fundamentally at the core \u2026 are not differences.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Fauci\u00a0said that Trump does listen to his expertise and the opinions of other officials on the task force.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe president has listened to what I have said and what the other people on the task force have said. When I have made recommendations he has taken them,\u201d Fauci added. \u201cThe idea of just pitting one against the other is just not helpful.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Moreover, the Director of the\u00a0 World Health Organization has also praised President Trump\u2019s response and actions<\/a> with regard to the virus:<\/p>\n WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus<\/a>\u00a0said the United Nations health agency has repeatedly called for the heads of state to lead a \u201cwhole of government\u201d response to COVID-19 and said\u00a0Trump\u00a0<\/a>was leading by example.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what he\u2019s doing, which we appreciate because fighting this pandemic needs political commitment,\u201d Tedros said during an afternoon press briefing in Geneva.<\/p>\n Tedros said he and Trump had recently spoken and that the president is \u201cdoing all he can.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that kind of political commitment and political leadership can bring change or can stop this pandemic,\u201d Tedros said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The American people agree, by a 3-to-2 margin, according to a Gallup Poll of American adults taken on 3-22-20<\/a>. He received a 60% approval and 38% disapproval, concerning his actions taken to stop the spread of the virus. An Axios-Harris Poll four days earlier (also of adults: almost twice as many) showed a similar margin of approval of 56% to 44% disapproval.<\/p>\n This is likely driving heightened popularity of the President in general<\/a>. Two polls of registered voters, from four and three days ago (Monmouth and The Hill\/HarrisX) showed him having equal numbers of approval and disapproval. This has almost never happened during his presidency (I know, because I often check his approval numbers).<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Related Reading<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n US Coronavirus Deaths: Elderly with Preconditions<\/a> [3-13-20]<\/span><\/p>\n Taylor Marshall: Pachamama \u201cIdolatry\u201d Judged by Coronavirus (Yet \u201cAntichrist\u201d Pope Francis Walks the Streets of Pandemic-Ravaged Rome Free of the Virus . . .)<\/a>\u00a0[3-17-20]<\/span><\/p>\n Alexander Tschugguel, Taylor Marshall, & God\u2019s Wrath<\/a>\u00a0[3-19-20]<\/span><\/p>\n My Outlook & Goals During This Coronavirus Crisis<\/a> [3-24-20]<\/span><\/p>\n Explanation of Coronavirus Statistics<\/a> (Dr. JD Donovan)\u00a0[3-26-20]<\/span><\/p>\n Dialogue: [Irrational?] Leftish Reactions to Coronavirus<\/a> [3-27-20]<\/span><\/p>\n Dialogue on Leftish Reactions to Coronavirus, Part II<\/a> [3-27-20]<\/span><\/p>\n Why Has Italy Suffered the Most from Coronavirus? (+ Reflections on the Propriety of Using the Term, \u201cChinese Flu\u201d \/ Condemnation of Anti-Chinese Prejudice)<\/a> [3-28-20]<\/span><\/p>\n Reply to Unfair Criticisms of Trump Re Coronavirus<\/a> [4-4-20]<\/span><\/p>\n Mini-Debate on Laying Blame for Lack of Knowledge of Coronavirus, and Irresponsibility<\/a> (vs. Jon Curry) [Facebook, 4-5-20]<\/p>\n Coronavirus: Chris Ferrara vs. Science & Historical Precedent (Social Distancing Was Used in the 1918 Flu Pandemic and Has Been Shown Again and Again to be Highly Effective)<\/a> [4-7-20]<\/span><\/p>\n Will US Coronavirus Deaths Be Far Less than Predicted?<\/a> [4-7-20]<\/span><\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Photo credit:<\/strong> [public domain<\/a> \/ Free SVG<\/a>]<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Now, I have already offered blistering critiques (two times) of the political and theological \u201cright\u201d and how they have exploited the present crisis to set forth goofy, wacko\u00a0 conspiratorial, apocalyptic theories of God\u2019s judgment and wrath, and why He is supposedly judging etc. But there is also a need to critique what is going on, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":45872,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[289],"tags":[10581,10572,10479,10452,10569,10488,10470,2560,10455,10563,10476,10578,10461,10464,10458,10547,10467,10575,10473,10566],"class_list":["post-45870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-ethical-moral-issues","tag-apocalypticism","tag-black-death","tag-contagious-disease","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-disease","tag-disease-control","tag-doom-and-gloom","tag-epidemic","tag-flattening-curve","tag-flu","tag-leftism-coronavirus","tag-mass-hysteria","tag-mass-panic","tag-pandemic","tag-patheos-catholic","tag-quarantine","tag-rebecca-hamilton","tag-virus","tag-virus-trends"],"yoast_head":"\n