Big numbers are as hard to “see” as they are to comprehend. Scientists tell us that numbers greater than 100 are somewhat lost on the human brain for evolutionary purposes. As the U.S. Covid-19 related deaths get larger and larger, I have been attempting to understand what that looks like. Consequently, on my Facebook page, every Monday since April 27th, I have been posting a photograph of something that represents that week’s cumulative death count. I am putting them all together here, so show you. The key to understanding these photos, is that whether it’s a stadium or a town/city, the official count on the day of publication would mean that if every seat was filled or every resident of the town, well they would be gone...poof!
[note: Most numbers below are rounded. The count of Covid-19 deaths on the individual dates was sourced at WorldOMeters.info at approximately 9:00am PST each Monday. For population sizes, I used this Wikipedia page for 2019 data.]
April 27. Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. It has the distinction of being the largest stadium in baseball at 56,000 people. Every American who died of C-19 as of 4/27 would fit into one seat.
May 4. Rice University Stadium. This Houston, TX stadium holds 70,000. It would be filled to capacity.
May 11. Even “Touchdown Jesus” at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN couldn’t save the 80,750 people from Covid-19.
May 18. One of the most beautiful stadiums of them all, the Rosebowl in Pasadena, CA. Holds 92,000
May 25. Darrell K Royal — Texas Memorial Stadium, home of the U.T. Longhorns. 100,000 people.
June 1. Beaver Stadium @ Penn State. One of the largest stadiums in the world at 106,500 people. After this, we have to go to towns and cities. We simply don’t make meeting places and facilities large enough for the mounting Covid-19 dead.
June 8. The beautiful town of Williamsport, PA. Home of the Little League World Series, but not this year. This year, the residents of the town, who number 113,000, are all gone. Poof.
June 15. The gorgeous capitol building in Lansing, MI. Made more famous this year when Trump sent his rabid supporters in to pressure the governor to “open up.” Well, if those folks came from Lansing, they’d all be dead as the city has approximately 118,000 people, which lined up nicely for the amount of people dead on this date.
June 22. Every resident of Hartford, CT would be gone by this point. There is 122,000 of them.
June 29. A jewel of a city, the city of Elizabeth, NJ. Population 129,000. Poof again.
July 7. A beautiful waterfront in this important election state of Cedar Rapids, IA. Pop 133,000
July 13. The college town of Fullerton, CA is wiped out with its 138,000 residents.
July 20. Sprawling McAllen, TX could not be saved. If every American who died of Covid-19 was from here, this city would cease to exist. Population 143,200
Which brings us to today. The day where we surpass 150,000 deaths. An ugly milestone that should make everyone nauseous and infuriated. And after that, you may feel like weeping. Because this is beyond anything else, a tragedy of epic proportions.
July 27. Named Pasadena (Texas) by John Burnett of Galveston for it’s perceived lushness, it’s entire human life-force has been extinguished. It’s a very sad day for America. Population: 151,000, which we will hit before the end of today if we see 1,000 more dead. 1,000 people a day equals approximately one death for every minute and a half. I estimate this diary to take about 5 minutes to pour through. That’s over 3 people dead in the time to “see” what the quantity of dead look like.
Enough said.