Huh? I’d really like some fact checking!!!

Caught a headline on Apple News+ from ABC News saying that the Covid Death toll had reached 1 million.

The article was apparently building on a statement from Joe Biden lamenting this milestone.

According to the CDC…

CDC DATA :

Total U.S. DEATHS ( ALL CAUSES ) :

2014: 2,626,418

2015: 2,712,630 : Increase – 86,212 – 3.28%

2016 : 2,744,248 : Increase – 31,618 – 1.16%

2017 : 2,813,503 : Increase – 69,255 – 2.52%

2018 : 2,839,206 : Increase – 25,703 – 1%

2019: 2,855,000 : Increase – 15,794- 0.55%

2020: 2,913,144 : Increase – 58,144 – 2%

It’s not unusual for nearly 3 million people to die per year. That number would naturally increase as the population does.

2021 and 2022 data wasn’t available when I checked. There have been some reports that the CDC is re-evaluating their data due to over reporting of COVID deaths and potential skewing of the numbers because death with COVID is different from death due to COVID.

Even in 2020 during the height of the lockdowns and with no vaccine really available the average death rate from all causes seems within normal.

Indeed there is an anomaly, a lower than average increase in death rate in 2018 and 2019.

I’m not attempting to minimize the pain and anguish of a loved one’s death, I’ve been through it.

What I am saying is if we’ve had a million deaths due to COVID are these in addition to the normal death rate, or did COVID simply push some people over the edge that were already “one foot in the grave”?

My uncle “Died of COVID” according to the family and death certificate. But he was in his 70’s, had already had bypass surgery, still had heart problems, was an asthmatic, and was exhibiting the signs of what the family used to call normal end of life for the men in the family.

72 to 75 is about normal for us, we wear out and kick off. The best we can hope for is that we kick off having sex. It’s shitty for our wives or partners but we go out happy. Typically we’re not laying in a hospital bed in our own poop. From a quality of life, (or death,) standpoint, I’d prefer to just drop dead or have a mind blowing orgasm, go to sleep and not wake up.

Did my Uncle die of COVID? Or did COVID just put a banana peel next to the grave he already had one foot in?

Death sucks, but it’s part of life. We gotta move aside to make room for the next generation so they can screw things up as badly as we did.

I’ve always been morbidly fascinated with the way we Americans address death. We keep putting our fingers in the dike trying to hold back inevitability and honestly I’ve questioned if in doing so we are causing more pain and suffering than is necessary for the person dying, and the family of the soon to be deceased.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t strive for healthier or longer lives. I’m saying that at some point, we each need to draw a line in the sand and accept the inevitable with some semblance of grace.

When you look at the numbers from 2014 through 2020 it’s 3 million people a year more or less. We’re not wringing our hands over those folks as a nation. But for some reason 500,000 additional deaths per year due to COVID merits a Presidential speech?

Honestly, I find it somewhat offensive.

It’s almost like The President is using those deaths for his own gains. If the President is so upset about it, then let’s do the investigation to find out where COVID came from and figure out methods to mitigate a similar future tragedy. No matter where such an investigation may lead.

Assuming that the one million deaths were solely the responsibility of COVID as a single factor, (Dividing the 1 million across 2 years,) that increases the annual 3 million natural annual deaths by 0.16 which is about on par with the expected increase in death shown in the CDC’s data above.

Were it not for COVID, that increase might well have gone relatively unnoticed.

It’s still tragic, it’s still a marker for all the people who lost loved ones in a year. But people die…

Again, not minimizing the loss for the families, I just think we should have context against which to evaluate the headlines. Let’s look at the big picture, and let’s look at it in the cold light of truth.