[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by GoRedSox!

COVID did not really hit until March, 2020. There were 19% more total deaths in 2020 than in 2019. That is a lot of excess deaths. Some deferral of medical care would likely not cause deaths that quickly in the remaining 9 months of the years. I have no doubt there was and still is some impact to deferred care, but it is hard to quantify and doesn't explain the huge rise in death rates in this country coincident with the pandemic. COVID did kill a lot of people. Most of us know people that were struck down in the prime of life who were otherwise healthy. One size just does not fit all. For some reason, this particular illness has been politicized....and because voter registration data is public, you can actually see a higher death rate based on political affiliation. The excess death rate was higher amongst one party. This can also be viewed at the county level by voting outcomes, and counties who voted a certain way have lower vaccination rates and higher death rates due to COVID. The data is out there if you want to look into it...or not.

Again, post # 179 contains a link that explains a lot...