We lost 1,000,000 people to COVID-19 in 2020 thus far. That’s more than the 690,000 lost to AIDS in 2019, or the 400,000 gone to their rest from Malaria that same year. How much more human promise will be blowing in the wind when 2020 is over. Yet Marilyn Marchione of Associated Press believes COVID-19 patients did not die in vain. This is because those over a million people left us a gift behind.
Those Over a Million People Left Us a Gift of Life
Known infection rates are still rising, says Dr. Cyrus Shahpar, former U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientist. Many more are under the radar with few or no symptoms showing. But doctors are getting smarter at treating severe infections. It shows in the numbers for those who track the data.
In April 2020, the U.S. cumulative case death rate hovered around 5%. Now that rate was around 3% in September 2020, Cyrus Shahpar says. That’s because doctors have been unwilling to give up, according to Marilyn Marchione. As a consequence, their knowledge base has grown. This is the gift of life over a million people left us behind.
We Are In the Stormy Adolescence Phase of Learning
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health agrees patients are faring better than in the beginning. We’re now in the ‘stormy adolescence’ phase of learning what treatments work. We are ‘beyond infancy’ but not ‘all grown up either’ he told Marilyn Marchione.
This new knowledge is critical, insists Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease specialist. He believes ‘more than 40% of U.S. adults are at risk for severe disease from the virus, because of high blood pressure and other conditions’.
Western nations are reaping the benefits of living too well, it seems. But will we learn from our mistakes by adopting healthier lifestyles? We are not convinced this will happen. But if it did, then over a million people might have left a gift of even greater value behind.
Related
Simple Things to Remember During Surges
Vital Clue to the Extent of US COVID-19
Preview Image: COVID-19 World Map
