Hard to find perspective in case counts

2,000 COVID deaths a day surpasses cancer, heart disease tolls

Talking about the number of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S., it’s hard to get perspective on the number.

At a fundamental level, how does one wrap one’s mind around 250,000 people lost to this illness?

Johns Hopkins University, which has been diligently tracking statistics since the pandemic began, reported more than 2,000 American deaths on Thursday alone.

If this pace continues, and Americans don’t take action, that death count is expected to climb to 2,300 deaths per day by Dec. 18 in the U.S. due to COVID, and to over 2,500 a day by mid-January, the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicts, according to CNN.

We are at 2,000 deaths in a single day readers – 2,000 Americans. It’s staggering.

In an effort to give this some context, let’s look at other known “killers” in America:

• Heart disease kills an average of 1,794 people daily in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• Cancer kills an average of 1,660 people a day in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society

• During the 2018-19 flu season, which runs from October through May, there were 34,200 deaths in the U.S. Over an 8-month period – 244 days – that’s roughly 140 deaths per day.

• Unintentional injuries and accidents –such as falls, motor vehicle traffic deaths and unintentional poisonings – kill 169,936 people a year, or roughly 465 people a day

• Chronic lower respiratory diseases, which includes emphysema, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, kill 160,201 a year, or 439 people a day

• Strokes kill 146,383 annually, or 401 people a day

• Alzheimer’s disease kills 121,404 a year, or 332 people a day

• Kidney disease, such as nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis claims 50,633 annually, or 138 people a day

• Suicide claims 44,965 lives annually, or 123 lives a day

We compiled most of these statistics from the CDC’s website.

We’ve heard countless conversations about COVID, where people attempt to downplay the risk, or try to compare it to other illnesses in the hopes of pointing out that COVID isn’t as deadly. But the statistics are pretty clear … and we just had 2,000 deaths in a day from COVID.

Anyone can get COVID-19, and anyone can have a severe case of COVID. People with underlying medical conditions, including cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD, obesity, heart conditions, sickle cell disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus, are at increased risk for severe illness, the CDC reports.

Readers, cases are climbing. Practice the big three – social distancing, mask wearing and hand sanitizing – and stay safe, Yuma.

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