It was called the "Spanish Flu" because only the neutral country of Spain was reporting on it until the war ended.
Right now Covid-19 has infected 2.4 million people in the world and killed just over 165,000. Those numbers are certainly tragic. Everyone one of the 165,000 fatalities has caused countless other people to mourn each loss.
I am not here to minimize the suffering of this terrible time.
What I do want to point out are the following statistics:
1. Even if there are 10 times the infections by the end of the year that would still be 22.4 million people. I doubt very much, and hope even more, that it does not reach anything near that total.
2. Even if 10 times more people die (and I certainly hope and pray this does not happen), that would be 1,650,000 fatalities.
3. The world population in 1918 was almost 2 billion.
4. The world population today is almost 8 billion. (7.8 Billion to be more exact) I am rounding here to make the math simpler.
5. The Spanish Flu infected 25 percent of the world's population. Some estimates are as high as one third, but I am going low to be safe.
6. The Spanish Flu killed 2.5 percent of the people on the planet at the time. Ten percent of those infected ultimately died from that infamous flu. The Coronavirus is not even close to killing 3 percent of those infected.
7. To get the same devastating result as the Spanish Flu in terms of infecting one quarter of the population, the Coronavirus would have to infect almost 2 Billion people. By the way, a Billion is a 1,000 units of one Million.
8. To get the same death toll of 2.5 percent of the population (NOT 2.5 percent of those infected), the Coronavirus is going to have to kill almost 200 Hundred Million people.
Covid-19 is deadly serious medical crisis, and it hopefully will end sooner rather than later.
The Coronavirus is not the Spanish Flu. It is also not the Andromeda Strain for those of you who like the fiction of Michael Crichton. It is bad, but it pales in comparison to the devastation caused by the influenza of 1918-1919.
Trust GOD, and know that even if someone you love succumbs to this virus, you will see them again on the other side of this vale of tears.
You and I are probably not going to die from this virus, but we will die of something. Please repent ASAP. Do what you know to be right based on the Light of CHRIST inside of you. Every person who has ever lived has had the same influence from the SAVIOR and GOD of this planet. Calling it a "conscience" detracts from the fact that its power comes from GOD.
Finally, be of good cheer, for JESUS has overcome the world.