Stay safe, everyone

About 3 million people die EVERY year in the U.S. That's Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska and North Dakota with Guam thrown in to round it out. You can live in fear but you shouldn't hold it against those of us that are not.

A good point. But in 2020, there were approximately 446,000 EXTRA deaths in addition to the expected toll. People died who would not have -- just a little under Virginia Beach.
Don't live in fear, but live with knowledge.

I am very concerned that the cure is worse than the disease. While the CDC has discussed "additional deaths" there are not final numbers as far as I know. Furthermore, deaths from smoking and obesity (both very preventable) are far more prevalent yet McDonalds and liquor stores were both deemed essential. It makes sense to me that in a country where we consume poison and we call it processed food, beverage and pharmaceutical drugs that we would see an increase in major health issues. Now we are seeing increases in suicide, drug overdoses and alcoholism. Unfortunately, the financial fallout will probably hit us soon and will cause more death and pain.

Thanks for the respectful reply and all the best to you!

You too! I agree, not all of those excess deaths were from Covid. Depression, loss of exercise and social safety net during quarantine, fewer ways to get healthy food, barriers to routine medical care -- all of those are real and tragic and hurt people during the last year. I love that you are ready to think and discuss this!

However, I think that Covid is the capstone -- we can't unravel the rest without getting a handle on it. And I feel very hopeful now that we have a presidential plan that includes increased access to health care, mental health and substance abuse prevention. Because we will be dealing with those secondary impacts for a while.

But this makes me hopeful:

https://revcycleintelligence.com/news/how-bidens-covid-19-relief-plan-could-impact-hospitals