Only about 20 thousand Americans are murdered each year. But nearly 650 thousand die

[struggle4progress]

of heart disease. If we decide not to worry about the 35 thousand or so we've lost to covid-19 in the last few months -- because it's so few compared to heart disease! -- will we forget about homicide deaths too?

[The Magistrate]

1. A Good Point, Sir

Let's just shut down our homicide squads and let people get back to business....


"Defeat of a hated enemy is something to be for."

[struggle4progress]

2. "Why all this needless worry about being whacked?"

[The Magistrate]

3. In All Honestly, Sir

The possibility of being murdered has not crossed my mind in decades, and on the long ago occasions of my 'adventurous youth' when it did, was a chance voluntarily taken, merely one of the hazards of the trade....


"Defeat of a hated enemy is something to be for."

[DFW]

4. Mother Nature scheduled me to die of heart disease on or about April 29, 2004

Because of two very alert (and able) German cardiologists, we fooled Mother Nature (despite margarine ads warning us of the consequences), and I am still around.

However, one of the German cardiologists told me that I got to him "just in time," and that a day later might have been my last one. When contemplating the last 15 years of thwarting corrupt Belgian cops and gangs of bad guys from Romania, Serbia, Morocco, Lithuania, Croatia, Bulgaria and Albania, at least fate accorded me the chance to do so. Not all are so lucky.

[struggle4progress]

5. We're glad you dodged that one!

[DFW]

12. At the time, I had no idea how close I was

The "Big" day, after I was declared saved, the operating cardiologist played back the film tapes for me.

I had two forward coronary arteries 99% blocked. He said that he had put the stents in hours, maybe a day at best, before I was to suffer a major, possibly fatal heart attack. Since I have low blood pressure, I never had any chest pain. I only had minor shortness of breath and some light twinges in my shoulder. But since my father's parents had both died of heart attacks before they reached the age of 70, I read up on symptoms as much as I could, and knew I was having some.

I also knew how to get around the nastier aspects of the German health care system, so that when I asked to be examined, I was given an appointment the same day. If I had been a German on the health insurance plan that many working Germans my age (then 52) were on, the answer would have been, "we can take you in two months." Actually, that WAS the answer when I called for an appointment. I then said I was an American passing through, and would pay cash up front. "Oh, in that case you can come in at 5:15 this afternoon." (Universal health care, my ass!) That is the only reason I'm alive now.

[MineralMan]

6. Well, all of us will die in due time.

Should we then all become fatalists and not try to live as long as we can?

We do forget about homicides. We forget about auto accidents. We forget about the flu. We forget about heart disease. We forget about most of the things that lead to the end of people's lives. That's our nature, really.

It is the times when something unusual threatens to kill us that we worry about. We are in such a time. 1% of of could die from this coronavirus strain. That, in reality, seems like the actual maximum percentage, but we don't know exactly, because we're not testing people in large enough numbers to get any accurate estimates.

If that happened, roughly 3.2 million Americans would die from COVID-19. Eventually, we'd pretty much all become infected. Then, things would slow down, assuming that those who survived developed an immunity to the virus. 3.2 million. 1%.

It's all in the framing, really. 3.2 million sounds like a lot. 1% doesn't sound like a lot. Which number will we hear most often? The government will say 1%. Others will say 3.2 million. It's the same thing, but one sounds much worse than the other.

We will all die of something. But, we can do things to lower the number of people who die from COVID-19. We are doing those things right now, to a greater or lesser degree, depending on where you live and your own actions. A year from now, we'll all line up to get vaccinated against it. Or, almost all of us will. We all won't become ill from COVID-19. Many will successfully avoid becoming infected.

3.2 million people in the United States probably won't die. The number will be much lower than that, but it will still be more than should die.

[struggle4progress]

9. Nobody forgets about homicides. Local news is often "If it bleeds, it leads." Promising to execute

more murderers is a political staple for many politicians. Everybody believes murderers should be caught and locked away. But the GOP is telling us that covid-19 deaths shouldn't concern us, because they're just a drop in the bucket compared to other causes. If covid deaths stabilize at a thousand a day, we'll lose 240 thousand more here in the US by year's end

[MineralMan]

11. Most homicides are only local news. A few become national news.

Same thing with deaths from the flu. We hear about the local ones, but we don't keep track of numbers on a larger scale. COVID-19 is makiing national news every day, with death counts on the screen in every newscast. Whatever the GOP tries to do, those numbers will continue to be reported.

As long as it is national news, it can't be hidden. Most other deaths, like those from heart disease or smoking are simply not in the headlines, day after day.

[Tom Rinaldo]

7. Your point is well taken. However this should also be noted about the comparison...

We have "only" had 35,000 thousand deaths BECAUSE so many extreme mitigation measures are underway. Without them we might already be doubling the annual toll from heart disease. Or look at it from the opposite direction. It's like forcing almost everyone in the nation to exercise daily and bring their weight in line with the ideal range for their height, while all the while eating an extremely heart healthy diet, and THEN tallying the toll from heart disease that still occurs regardless, and calling THAT figure "acceptable".

[malaise]

8. Most homcide deaths are ignored unless the victims were killed

by non-whites.

[Dawson Leery]

10. This!