AMERICA ALWAYS WANTS TO BE THE BEST — BUT SADLY IT BRINGS OUT THE WORST!
By Vincent Lyn
America is the first at most COVID-19 cases of any country in the world, the first with most deaths and now the first with most hospitalizations of any nation in the world. We are experiencing a surge of cases and deaths the likes of nothing we’ve seen since the 1918 Spanish Flu. That pandemic killed over 50 -100 million worldwide with 675,000 deaths in America. Health Metrics Evaluation are now predicting that by April, 2021 America will have 540,000 deaths and no doubt we will blow past 1918 numbers later on in the year. You can make an argument and say that in 1918 the U.S. had only a population of 100 million. That’s true but most of the country didn’t even have clean drinking water let alone mediocre health care, and a complete lack of medicines.
The current population of America is 328 million but today we also have the most advanced hospitals and technology in the world. Many of the best doctors, nurses, first responders and therapeutics to reduce the illness and deaths from COVID-19. But sadly, one thing that never changes is human behavior — sabotaging a society because of so-called personal rights to be complete idiots all because of free-dumb. It’s the most bizarre thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life.
From November 25th to 29th, 4.6 million passengers traveled by air. It’s been the busiest travel time since mid-March. Over-crowded lines of people at both Chicago O’Hare and Phoenix Sky Harbor airports. We, are in the most deadliest time of this pandemic and yet many Americans were spreading transmission all over the country. And just like every time we’ve seen since the beginning of this virus there is always a lag effect. So, by Xmas and New Year’s many of the impatient and non-caring travelers will become ill, many will end up in hospital if there is even any space for them and many will die. Well, all I can say is I hope they enjoyed Thanksgiving, because thousands will not be here at Xmas and get to celebrate the New Year. Any sane person would throw their hands up with incredulity. It doesn’t get any-more crackers than the type of bizarre selfish behavior that is apparent all throughout America. Especially when we all know that vaccines are knocking on our doors. We’ve been at this for nearly a year and all we need to do is be patient, and wait a little longer.
What’s so terrible about it all is it was completely avoidable. But here we are dealing with mass death on a daily basis. As I wrote in a previous article how we as a society have now come to normalize tragedy. Even writing this I shake my head at how disgusted I am with the pathetic behavior of so many Americans. I’m so grateful that my son lives in Hong Kong or my friends in Vietnam and Taiwan who are living what we consider normalcy. The normal lives we lived before COVID-19 came to haunt us and change the landscape of America.
COVID-19 is not just a leading cause of death, but has jumped straight into the top three. The steady increase in mortality over the years has been largely due to an aging population. In recent history, from 1999 all the way through 2018, the nine most common causes of death have remained the same, with the top two being constant (heart disease and cancer) and the others undergoing some reordering amongst themselves. The only exception in this 20-year period is suicide or intentional self-harm, which replaced septicemia (blood poisoning by bacteria) to become the 10th-leading factor since 2007. But this 10th-place switch was at the range of 34,000 deaths annually at the national level, whereas the sheer number of deaths from this paradigm-altering pandemic means that COVID-19 enters the rankings much higher up.
Of the 2.8 million deaths registered in the U.S. in 2018, the top two most common causes of death — heart disease and cancer — claimed more than 655,000 and 599,000 lives, respectively. The next-most-prevalent cause was accidents (unintentional injuries), resulting in about 166,000 deaths. Given this background, if we add COVID-19 into the framework, it easily overtakes the number of accidental fatalities, since it is projected to cause more than 340,000 cumulative deaths by end of 2020.
The seasonal flu is often discounted as minor and manageable, influenza and pneumonia have always been a major cause of death, and were the eighth-leading cause overall in 2018. Even when the leading causes are disaggregated by age, it consistently ranks among the 10 major causes affecting all age groups from children to older adults.
The COVID-19 provisional death data, however, indicate that the elderly and those with underlying health conditions are the most vulnerable. The seasonal flu is a significant contributor to the leading causes of death and serves as a reminder of the detrimental power of infectious respiratory diseases in general, and the lethal nature of the COVID-19 pandemic in particular. Also, perhaps this year as a byproduct of wearing masks, practicing social distancing, or greater awareness of flu shots (vaccinations), the number of deaths due to influenza and pneumonia may see a decline.
The age distribution of a population plays a big role in determining its mortality profile. The general pattern we see is that for younger age groups, more deaths are due to external causes like accidents, homicides and suicides; and for older adults there is a greater prevalence of chronic diseases, such as heart disease and stroke, as well as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Infants, on the other hand, suffer from a unique set of health issues during the neonatal and post-neonatal periods, and the leading cause of death for the youngest age category is congenital anomalies.
This pandemic is a tragedy of epic proportions, as it can claim lives not just directly, but indirectly as well. A recent CDC study found at least two-thirds of the excess deaths between late January and early October 2020 can be attributed to COVID-19. Secondary consequences include higher-than-usual numbers of deaths related to Alzheimer’s and dementia, partly due to the enforced social isolation and disconnection from the community; additional deaths could result from patients of heart disease or stroke who may miss routine treatment or even emergency care in order to avoid exposure to the coronavirus; and adverse mental health outcomes, increased substance use, and elevated suicidal ideation due to the pandemic could result in loss of life. The disruptions in health care services, increased psychological stresses and financial fragility exacerbated by COVID-19 may collectively result in a higher death toll overall.
As of December 4, 2020 America hit another grim milestone and new record with COVID-19 becoming the number one cause of death this week. Americans are now dying from COVID-19 about every 30 seconds. How ghastly things are for America. Not a proud moment to be first, yet again.
President-Elect Biden will ask all Americans in his first 100 days of office for everyone to wear a face mask. I’ve been wearing one since early March. It’s a no brainer and should be as easy as 1–2–3. My intuitive hit says it’ll never happen. It’s called Free-Dumb.
Vincent Lyn
CEO/Founder at We Can Save Children
Director of Creative Development at African Views Organization
Economic & Social Council at United Nations
Middle East Correspondent at Wall Street News Agency