Most of us know that almost a million people in the U.S. have died of Covid since 2020. What some of us may not know is how unequally the costs have been distributed. For example, younger people don’t usually die, but one in 75 older Americans has died from the disease. The death rate for Blacks and Latinos is approximately twice that for whites. Residents of long-term-care facilities, 3% of the population, have accounted for about one in five Covid deaths.
Because of the anti-vaccination sentiment, people in red counties have been dying at about three times the rate as people in blue counties. (I lay that at the feet of conservative Republicans, almost all of whom know better). In the first four months of this year another 130,000 have died, and we generally act like the whole thing is past.
Some people think the number is an overcount. It’s not. The lead article in the latest New Yorker points out that since the pandemic at least 100,000 more people have died than would have in normal times. Some of those are the result of missed care for things like heart attacks and strokes. Drug overdoses have risen. Gun violence has risen. Childhood vaccination rates are down.
Get your booster.
The statistics in this post are from Dhruv Khullar, “One in a Million,” New Yorker, (April 11, 2022), pp. 11-12.
No comments:
Post a Comment