If the United States suffered a loss of life on the scale of the September 11 attacks, 50 times more, the tragedy would be incomprehensible.
But that’s the number of lives that the coronavirus has claimed in the US since this pandemic started just six months ago.
It is easy to fall asleep or turn a blind eye to losses. But there are several reasons why these numbers should not be ignored, and various ways to change course.
0.05% will grow rapidly
So far, about 0.05% of the US population has died from the new coronavirus.
That may sound like a small number. But we still have a long way to go before we achieve herd immunity.
At this rate, the U.S. is likely to suffer 300,000 deaths by the end of this year, said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor University School of Medicine.
Covid-19 is already a leading cause of death in some places.
A disease that didn’t even exist a year ago is now a leading cause of death in parts of the U.S.
“In many states, such as Texas, Florida, Arizona, Covid-19 is once again the leading daily cause of death,” Hotez said Tuesday.
Covid-19 is also one of the top killers in Los Angeles County, behind coronary heart disease, said county health director Barbara Ferrer.
“It is killing more people than Alzheimer’s disease, other types of heart disease, stroke and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease),” said Ferrer.
Nationwide, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn’t rank top causes of death until the end of the year, so they can analyze the value of a full year of data.
But last week, CDC statisticians told CNN that they expect Covid-19 to rank in the top 10.
Covid-19’s 150,000 seven-month death toll has already surpassed death rates from other conditions for an entire year, including strokes, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and the flu.
In 2018, the last year for which CDC’s cause of death data is available, 147,810 people died from strokes, 122,019 from Alzheimer’s disease, 84,946 from diabetes, and 59,120 from influenza and pneumonia.
But even if you or your loved ones survive after catching Covid-19, the long-term consequences could be exacerbated.
“Remember, it’s not just about the deaths. It’s this terrible, disabling … lasting disabilities of the lung, the vascular system, the heart and the brain,” said Hotez. “We are seeing long-term cognitive deficits. This is a terrible disease.”
It can happen to any of your loved ones
Countless families have lost relatives much earlier than they imagined, including youth without pre-existing conditions.
Joe Lewinger was 42 years old and healthy before catching Covid-19, his wife Maura said.
But Joe’s condition quickly deteriorated, and Maura asked a doctor to connect them via FaceTime so that she could have a final moment with her husband.
Soon after, the doctor said that Joe’s pulse had disappeared.
Nicole Buchanan couldn’t even say goodbye to her husband.
Eventually, Conrad’s condition worsened so much that Nicole dropped him off at the hospital entrance and went to park the car. That was the last time she saw her husband.
“I walked up to the doors. The hospital is closed. They wouldn’t let anyone in after that,” he said. “I never had to say ‘I love you.'”
‘We don’t have to go through this’
About 45,447 lives could be saved between July and November if 95% of Americans wore face masks in public, IHME researchers said.
If everyone wore masks, that would lower the projected death toll from 208,255 to 162,808.
But at this rate, the United States is likely to experience a total of 200,000 deaths this fall, said Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Institute of Global Health.
“Of course, all of this is completely unnecessary. We don’t have to go through this,” Jha said.
“We are going through it because we are simply not doing the basic things we need to do to suppress the virus.”
CNN’s Jacqueline Howard and Cheri Mossburg contributed to this report.
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