America is shutting down. Restaurants and bars are closing, businesses are reducing hours. People are being laid off. Unemployment may reach Great Depression highs. Store shelves are empty. People are hoarding. The stock market has collapsed. In the short span of just a few weeks, we have descended from a high-flying economy – the envy of the world – into the abyss. We now have a small taste of what it feels like to live in a socialist nation or how things might look if Bernie Sanders becomes President.

Why has this happened? How could it happen? How could the greatest and strongest republic in the history of the world be brought to its knees by a virus that has so far infected a tiny fraction of the number of people who are sickened by influenza annually?

Every year, 50,000 Americans die due to the flu or complications related to it (especially pneumonia.) That’s almost 4,000 people per week during a typical 13-week flu season. The total number of Americans who have died in the four weeks since COVID-19 became a serious public health issue: about 115 or 29 per week.