As I write this, the world is in the midst of the worst pandemic of the 21st century, and the worst in many, many decades before that. We have never seen a virus travel so quickly throughout the world or one as deadly as COVID-19.
At the moment, there have been 1,182,830 confirmed cases and 63,925 deaths worldwide. In the US, there have been 301,147 confirmed cases and 8,173 deaths. And this all began only a little more than 3 months ago, on December 31, 2019 when the first COVID-19 infection was diagnosed. [SOURCE] If you click on the link, you will see the updated numbers, which will be much higher than those I have stated here.
COVID-19 is now the third leading cause of death in the United States. From The Hill.com. April 1, 2020:
The coronavirus has become the third-highest cause of death in the U.S., according to a doctor's analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.
Maria Danilychev of San Diego charted coronavirus growth throughout the country and found that COVID-19 fatalities had surpassed Alzheimer's, stroke and chronic lung disease with 748 deaths per day and rising, The Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday.
The analysis is based on reports from a single day, assuming the rate of deaths remains the same or increases from now until the virus hits the projected apex towards the end of April.Yet, there are still many people who are insisting on their right to meet together during this storm. Sadly, that includes many Catholics who have condemned their bishops for closing churches everywhere in an attempt to save as many lives as possible.
