America Was in an Early-Death Crisis Long Before COVID

The Atlantic ^ | 21 Jul, 2022 | Ed Yong

[anthropocene_x]

From the 1980's onwards, the U.S. mortality rate started falling behind its peers. By 2019, the number of missing Americans had grown to 626,000. After COVID arrived, that statistic ballooned even further—to 992,000 in 2020, and to 1.1 million in 2021. Were the U.S. just average compared to other wealthy countries, not even the best performer, fully a third of all deaths last year would have been prevented. That includes half of all deaths among working-age adults. Think of two people you might know under 65 who died last year: One of them might still be alive.

These counterfactuals puncture two pandemic myths, that the U.S. was just one unremarkable victim of a crisis that spared no nation, and that COVID disrupted a status quo that was strong and worth restoring wholesale.

America’s life expectancy has tailed behind other comparable countries since the 1970s. By 2010, that gap was already 1.9 years. By the end of 2021, it had grown to 5.3. And although many countries took a longevity hit because of COVID, America was once again exceptional: Among its peers, it experienced the largest life-expectancy decline in 2020 and, unlike its peers, continued declining in 2021. People often misinterpret life-expectancy declines, as if they simply represent a few years shaved off the end of life. Someone might reasonably ask: What’s the big deal if I die at 76 versus 78? But in fact, life expectancy is falling behind other wealthy nations because a lot of Americans are dying very young—in their 40s and 50s.

The U.S. actually does well at keeping people alive once they’re really old, but it struggles to get its citizens to that point. They might die because of car accidents, heart disease and other metabolic disorders, or drug overdoses, suicides, and other deaths of despair.

[FarCenter]

The point of the story in Atlantic is that the US was experiencing more early deaths than other developed countries even before Covid and the shots.

[daniel1212]

Each year, approximately 280,000 adults die from an obesity-related condition in the United States....Obesity significantly increases your risk of developing life-threatening conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and some forms of cancer. (cf. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/192032)

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/mortality-in... Oct 08, 2020 · Excess mortality is a measure of how many more deaths have occurred over a period of time as compared to the same period in previous years. During the first 34 weeks of 2020, 280,000 more people died than during the first 34 weeks of any of the five previous years.

- https://forbigandheavypeople.com/do-fat-people-die-sooner/

Obesity Linked to Severe Coronavirus Disease, Especially for Younger Patients. - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/health/coronavirus-obesity-higher-risk.html

Study: High Blood Pressure, Obesity Are Most Common Comorbidities in COVID-19 Patients. - https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2020-04-22/obesity-hypertension-most-common-comorbidities-for-coronavirus-patients

[daniel1212]

"Half the country is morbidly obese, I assume that has something to do with it."

73% of U.S. Adults Overweight or Obese. Unprecdented in the US

Percent of adults aged 20 and over with obesity: 41.9% (2017-March 2020) - https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/obesity-overweight.htm

Over 73% of U.S. Adults Overweight or Obese — Obesity rate up by half since 1999-2000, NHANES data indicate; nearly 10% severely obese - https://www.medpagetoday.com/primarycare/obesity/90142

A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that 73% of Americans that died from COVID-19 have the same underlying health condition. - https://www.ibtimes.com/73-americans-who-died-covid-had-common-3158616, 03/08/21

The common trait among these patients, according to the study, was their weight, as the CDC said that they were all overweight or obese.

Why COVID-19 is more deadly in people with obesity—even if they're young “The stickiest blood I’ve ever seen” and other weight-related factors worsen the coronavirus disease. - https://www.science.org/content/article/why-covid-19-more-deadly-people-obesity-even-if-theyre-young

And from a compilation of extensive research: https://www.quora.com/Does-COVID-19-truly-warrant-a-nationwide-shutdown/ , by the grace of God.

[2] The UK is the fattest country in Europe. The number of obese adults is forecast to rise by 73% over the next 20 years from to 26 million people, resulting in more than a million extra cases of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

[3] The Relationship Between Obesity, Diabetes and the Heart

[4] Body Mass Index is Strongly Associated with Hypertension: Results from the Longevity Check-Up 7+ Study

[5] Prevalence of Obesity, Diabetes, and Obesity-Related Health Risk Factors, 2001

[6] The 3 Most Dangerous Underlying Conditions for COVID

[7] FastStats

[8] Obesity

[9] Obesity, Race/Ethnicity, and COVID-19

[10] CDC study finds about 78% of people hospitalized for Covid were overweight or obese

[11] Why COVID-19 is more deadly in people with obesity—even if they're young

[12] Obesity a driving factor in COVID-19 deaths, global report finds

[13] Covid-19 death rates 10 times higher in countries where most adults are overweight, report finds

[14] Physical inactivity is associated with a higher risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes: a study in 48 440 adult patients

[15] 61% of Americans Say They Gained Weight During the Pandemic

[255] CDC - Newsroom Archive

[256] Obesity Linked to Severe Coronavirus Disease, Especially for Younger Patients

[257] Individuals with obesity and COVID‐19: A global perspective on the epidemiology and biological relationships

[258] Descriptive epidemiology of 16,780 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the United States

[259] COVID Death Rates 10 Times Higher in Countries Where Most Are Overweight: Report

[260] https://www.worldobesityday.org/assets/downloads/COVID-19-and-Obesity-The-2021-Atlas.pdf

[261] Associations between body-mass index and COVID-19 severity in 6·9 million people in England: a prospective, community-based, cohort study

[262] Obesity is a strong risk factor for short-term mortality and adverse outcomes in Mexican patients with COVID-19: a national observational study | Epidemiology & Infection | Cambridge Core

[263] Obesity

[264] Heavy burden: Obesity may be even deadlier than thought

[Pollard]

This article may give you the SADS

[logi_cal869]

Incredible ignorance masquerading as a defense of the jabs.

It may have well been posted to an obscure blog. But if The Atlantic sees fit to further discredit itself, so be it.

[Sirius Lee]

First the vaxxtards were pointing to “excess deaths” to make the argument that WuFlu was killing thousands of people every week in order to push the Frankenshot, but now they’re saying that the excess deaths were always there. So is this tacit admission that “death by covid” was just a made up number? Or that the Frankenshots make no difference? Or are they desperately trying to gaslight the public into not noticing “death by vaxx”?

[TheWriterTX]

It has a lot to do with food quality and daily living.

Italian food, for example, is more pure and natural...the way God made it.

America consumes Frankenfood, with pesticides built in, GMOs, high fructose corn syrup instead of natural sugar, etc. Americans also have a ton of chemicals in their soaps, shampoos, hair care and facial products (including adrenal blockers that mess with the endocrine system).

Plus, Europeans tend to do a lot more walking in their daily lives, versus Americans who sit in an office, sit in their cars, and sit on their couches.

[TheWriterTX]

In the Netherlands, they have the Groningen protocol that not only allows premature infants to die, it hastens their death.

If we lived there, my 20 year old would not be with us. In the US, my child was saved.

[nwrep]

Thanks for your response.

Regarding effects of a despotic establishment warring against its own citizens,

Is there any place for personal responsibility in making decisions? Or does the government bear the responsibility for all bad decisions made by white and black Americans (addictions, poor eating habits, out of wedlock births, sedentary lifestyles, etc.)? Just wondering.

[hopespringseternal]

Yes, but that is a complete gaslight operation. The relevant issue is comparing US year over year. Comparing US to other countries is just sidestepping the issue.

[wildcard_redneck]

"Is there any place for personal responsibility in making decisions? Or does the government bear the responsibility for all bad decisions made by white and black Americans (addictions, poor eating habits, out of wedlock births, sedentary lifestyles, etc.)? Just wondering."

Yes, there is a lace for personal responsibility. That being said the destruction of the family, the forcing of women to work instead of raising their children, the deindustrialization have a corrosive, persistent effect. You may think that you are above it but it is marching its way up the social ladder and you too will be affected.