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On Death's Door, Or Not

 The amount of fear being spread about the current viral pandemic - Covid-19 - amazes me. Yes, this virus has killed many, many people. Any unnecessary death is tragic. Any premature death is tragic. I understand that. My heart goes out to any family that lost a loved one due to this disease.

What I don't understand is the sheer terror that seems to have affected people, especially those that are younger. I reported last summer (on this EXACT date!! I just noticed!) about how deaths were concentrated among the portion of the population that is over 60. If you want to see those numbers and my comments, go here:  https://justsomeposts.blogspot.com/2020/08/covid-19-for-ages.html

I got the numbers again today and here they are:


You can see that less than 3% of the total deaths to this point have been in people under 45 years old! The danger if you are under 45 is very low. Even if you are 64 or younger, less than 21% of the total deaths are in those age groups. 

One thing that has not been reported and most people (myself included before this) do not realize is from 50,000 - 65,000 people die each week in the US. Every week!

So when it is reported that 3,000 people died from something it sounds very high, but is a small percentage of the total deaths. Here are some numbers showing the deaths from Covid compared to the total deaths, also by age groupings:



Note that in the under 16 group Covid is almost statistically Zero! Even in the 18 - 29 it is under 3% of total deaths. 

As I have stated many, many times: perspective matters. The fear over a disease that does not affect any large portion of the population under 50 has been presented as Black Death revisited. The fear is wrong! The psychological burden being placed on those uninformed is criminal. The financial burden being placed on those that pay taxes now and will in the future is also criminal, and unsustainable.

FYI, these figures came from the CDCs weekly reporting that is accessible online to anyone that wants to go a look versus just letting the media sensationalize the numbers.


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