Yesterday, I posted about the good news that my mother received her second COVID-19 inoculation, which has me feeling a great deal of relief. The news on the national level is not so great, however, even though we seem to have turned a corner, as the idiom goes. Via Tengrain, we have this sobering reminder that the COVID-19 death toll is, on a global scale, probably double that reported by various governments, in the case of the United States, the figure is probably about 38% higher, with a total death toll of over nine hundred thousand Americans.
This particular figure has been calculated by tallying excess deaths, over the statistical average, for the COVID-19 era. Globally, there has been a discrepancy between official death counts and excess death statistics.
Months ago, I noted that the Former Guy actually stated that not testing for COVID-19 would drive the numbers down, and took away the FDA's authority to regulate COVID-19 testing kits. Last July, the Trump Maladministration forced the CDC to stop releasing hospitalization and ICU statistics, handing the authority to the Department of Health and Human Services. It has to be noted that the lowballing of COVID-19 deaths in the US was greatest in localities that supported Trump, though even in New York, nursing home deaths were underreported by the thousands.
A year ago, I predicted that a half-million Americans would die before the pandemic ran its course, and my co-worker countered by saying it would be a million. I'm starting to think that I may have been a Pollyanna... and to think that I've always maintained that I'm a cynic!
2 comments:
I work in the Engineering department of a hospital. My coworkers are all Trump supporters and even now I can hear them occasionally say Covid is all a hoax.
Honestly, I'm embarrassed for them.
It's insane. How can this evidence be before them and they still don't get it? Be safe!
Post a Comment