“COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2021, following heart disease and cancer, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”1
I was in grad school from 2012 - 2015 for my MBA and MPH (Master of Public Health), so it wasn’t not long ago that I was writing papers about the top 10 leading causes of death in the U.S., prevention strategies to decrease deaths from these causes, vulnerable populations and how to achieve health equity.
I love(d) learning about public health. Learning about the history of public health and what lessons we’ve learned from past mistakes to improve how to disseminate information to prevent disease spread hits a sweet spot for me. As a former minister (and exvangelical), I was trained to deliver messages so that people would listen and want to know more (the perks of being a part of a fundamentalist cult?). Public health is only as successful if people hear and heed the messaging.
We really missed the mark with COVID. Partisan politics and disinformation fueled conflicts on how to prevent COVID infection. Quarantine guidance differed at the state level. We were trying to teach people how basic science worked in real time; evidence that our education system is not sufficiently teaching basic science in school. And people ignored our recent history with polio and measles and the success of vaccinations.
I don’t have any evidence-based solutions I can throw out, nor am I the expert on that. I know of many other amazing scientists who probably have all the answers and are eager to implement changes in our systems.
If anything, I just don’t want to ignore this number and let it pass by without notice.
A million human beings are gone. Parents, grandparents, spouses, and children. Musicians, doctors, nurses, janitors, teachers. Death that was unexpected and unprepared for. A million deaths and we are fatigued by hearing about COVID, so we ignore the death and the recent rise in cases.
“If you were to tell people that an American city had been wiped off the face of the earth, people would be shocked and horrified. But since this has been a kind of a gradual burn over two years, we've gotten so used to hearing the headlines and so tired of having to deal with a pandemic.”
There are indications that 1 million is an undercount. I hope we can learn and adjust before we get close to another 1 million milestone.
Mitropoulos, A. (2022, May 12). 'Unthinkable tragedy': U.S. COVID-19 death toll surpasses 1 million. ABC News. Retrieved from: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/unthinkable-tragedy-us-covid-19-death-toll-surpasses/story?id=84502918