It’s important to actually do math

Let’s do some math.

(Isn’t that what everyone wants to do when they’re stuck at home?)

Some of those who have downplayed the seriousness of coronavirus and the disease it causes — COVID-19 — have done so by presenting numbers.

It goes something like this: “But there’s a 96% survival rate!” (Most of this, not surprisingly, happens on social media.)

The implication is that it’s not all that deadly if 96% of those who get the disease survive.

So, seriously, let’s do some math.

While medical experts agree it’s too early in the existence of the virus — it only just popped up in late 2019 — to have an accurate measure of what its survival rate is, let’s assume the 96% mark being spouted on social media is correct. And let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that about the same number of Americans who get the flu in an average year, according to numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will contract COVID-19.

Here’s the math:

•U.S. population: 327.2 million

•Percentage of population (hypothetically, based on flu numbers) contracting COVID-19: 8%

•That would mean 26.176 million with COVID-19

•Percentage of those who die (according to social media ranting) after contracting COVID-19: 4%

The result? It figures out to 1.05 million deaths from COVID-19 this year in the United States alone. (It would be more than 21,000 Hoosier deaths.)

For comparison, the No. 1 cause of death in the U.S. in 2017, the last year for which CDC statistics are available, was heart disease with nearly 650,000 deaths. In fact, COVID-19 would outpace the No. 3 through 10 causes of death in the U.S., combined, by a long run.

Our point here is that spouting off on social media about the survival rate is irresponsible. It’s meaningless without considering what the number really means in the long run.

It’s difficult to imagine anyone would consider 1.05 million American deaths — more than double the U.S. death toll in World War II — acceptable when simply staying home would be enough to severely cut that number.

So, think before you speak (or type).

Understand what the numbers mean.

Treat this issue with the seriousness it deserves.

Follow the stay-at-home order so that our numbers of sick and dying don’t continue to multiply. — R.C.