Numbers don’t Lie [The Covid story]

According to the CDC, In 2018:

Data from the National Vital Statistics System

• Life expectancy for the U.S. population in 2018 was 78.7 years, an increase of 0.1 year from 2017.
• The age-adjusted death rate decreased by 1.1% from 731.9 deaths per 100,000 standard population in 2017 to 723.6 in 2018.
• The 10 leading causes of death in 2018 remained the same as in 2017. From 2017 to 2018, age-adjusted death rates decreased for 6 of 10 leading causes of death and increased for 2.
• Age-specific death rates decreased from 2017 to 2018 for age groups 15–24, 25–34, 45–54, 65–74, 75–84, and 85 and over.
• The infant mortality rate decreased 2.3% from 579.3 infant deaths per 100,000 live births in 2017 to 566.2 in 2018.
• The 10 leading causes of infant death in 2018 remained the same as in 2017.

And in 2019, when COVID hit the US (At the end of the year)

Data from the National Vital Statistics System

• Life expectancy for the U.S. population in 2019 was 78.8 years, an increase of 0.1 year from 2018.
• The age-adjusted death rate decreased by 1.2% from 723.6 deaths per 100,000 standard population in 2018 to 715.2 in 2019.
• The 10 leading causes of death in 2019 remained the same as in 2018, although kidney disease, the eighth leading cause and influenza and pneumonia, the ninth in 2019, switched ranks.
• Age-specific death rates decreased from 2018 to 2019 for age groups 45–54, 65–74, 75–84, and 85 and over.
• The infant mortality rate in 2019 of 558.3 infant deaths per 100,000 live births did not change significantly from the rate in 2018.

These look fairly the same. Unfortunately the data briefs for 2020 have not been completed. One they have been completed, I will update this post.

So, lets look at death rates in general. To do this I will use data collected by macrotrends (Click chart to go to macrotrends page.)

The national annual death rate was decreasing coming out of the 1950s,There was a spike from 1960 to 1968. Then headed into decreasing death rates from 1968 to 1983. Then a small spike from 1983 to 1988, then back to a steady decrease until 2008. After 2008, the annual US death rate steadily increased every year. Mind you, at the same time, the annual % change is decreasing. This shows that our death rate numbers are going up at a rather steady rate since 2008.

To really understand the effects of the COVID virus, we would have to look at all the viruses. Since we have been looking at the Death Rates since 1967, lets use that same timeframe.

The US had dealt with Rubella (German Measles) from 1962 to 1965. This virus killed 12.5 million worldwide. In 1968, the Hong Kong Flue hit. The Hong Kong Flu killed 34,000 people in the US alone. This kind of explains these spikes, Lets continue. In 1976, The Swine Flu hit. The Swine Flu was a worldwide pandemic, but no real spike in death rates. The US government pushed inoculations. In 1977 The Russian Flu hit. The Russian flu became another World Pandemic, but still no real spike in death rates. In 1983, HIV became a World Pandemic. HIV is still killing people today. This virus is part of the death rate to this day’. This really explains the spike from 1983 – 1988.

From 1989 to 2008, we had a decrease in death rate numbers. The Annual % change in the red the whole time. In 2008 Ebola and Yellow Fever are popping up all over the world and then the Bird Flu hit in 2009. 2009 also brought in the H1N1 Flu, and by the end of 2009 , H1N1 is declared a Pandemic.

2010:
H1N1 still a Pandemic, Yellow Fever is a problem in many places over the globe. The Bird Flu is spreading, and Polio hits several countries. The US has vaccines for yellow fever and polio, and have been using them for years, thus making those a minimal threat to the US.

2011:
H1N1 and Avian influenza (Bird Flu) are still wreaking havoc China adds the Wild Polio Virus, and the West Nile Virus pops up. Our death rates continue to clime. The A%C Way in the green

2012
H1N1 is pretty much under control. Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) is everywhere, and at the end of the year, the first corona virus case is recorded (https://www.who.int/csr/don/2012_09_23/en/) in EU. Ebola is running rampant, and yellow fever is slowing down.

2013:
Novel coronavirus spreads – becomes MERS-CoV. H7N9 appears in China and spreads throughout the world. HIV is increasing death rates/

2014:
H5N1 pops up, Bird Flu still around, MERS-CoV increasing in numbers, Ebola shows its ugly face. Death rates are continuing to clime at a normal rate.

2015:
MERS-CoV spreads, a little Yellow fever cases, and the Zica virus shows up. HIV is still killing high numbers of people

2016:
H7N9, MERS-CoV, and Yellow fever cases continue to decline, and Zika picks up momentum.

2017 & 2018:
Brings about the same

2019:
even though we are certain the Covid-19 virus started in 2019, there is no mention of it. Most of the disases are loosing momentum

2020:
Well, all we hear about is Covid -19, which is actually still the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). There were many diseases in 2020m but we did not hear about them

With all the diseases around the world, the death rate increased, but at a normal % of change.

real quick before I finish, here is a list of causes of death in 2020 from the cdc

• Heart disease: 655,381
• Cancer: 599,274
• Accidents (unintentional injuries): 167,127
• Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 159,486
• Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 147,810
• Alzheimer’s disease: 122,019
• Diabetes: 84,946
• Influenza and pneumonia: 59,120
• Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 51,386
• Intentional self-harm (suicide): 48,344

Here is a chart from the CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm)

	All Deaths involving COVID-19	Deaths from All Causes	Deaths involving Pneumonia, with or without COVID-19, excluding Influenza deaths	Deaths involving COVID-19 and Pneumonia, excluding Influenza	All Deaths involving Influenza, with or without COVID-19 or Pneumonia	Deaths involving Pneumonia, Influenza, or COVID-19	Population
	313,171	3,171,913	307,957	144,615	8,676	484,102	328,239,523

So if there were 307,957 Covid related deaths, that would fall below Heart Disease and Cancer. Not HUGE numbers like some would like you to believe,