COVID was the third leading cause of death in the US in both 2020 and 2021. Just after heart disease and cancer. One million people died in a fairly short time period.
But yeah, let's keep pretending like it was "just another day." I'll never understand such a nonchalant attitude toward human life in favour of economies and money.
No, not "just" after heart disease which killed 695,547 in 2022 or cancer, which killed 605,213 people in 2022, in the US. COVID was about 200,000 (or more) fewer people. 416,893 just to clarify, according to the CDC.
You don't have to "understand" any other perspectives. That's all I'm saying - PUT IT IN PERSPECTIVE. A less than 1 percent death rate, nearly all (89 percent - 89 PERCENT) people who were elderly and/or had preexisting conditions. That's the worldwide pandemic. Meanwhile, I think we're all continuing to suffer long term consequences in one way or the other and will for years, maybe for the rest of our lives.
Oh, and I had elderly parents too. Every moment with them was precious. Thankfully they died in 2016 and 2019 so they didn't have to deal with COVID. I'm not making light of the fact that the US saw a .1 -not one percent but POINT ONE percent - uptick in deaths. I'm just saying that numbers are our friends. Let's use some perspective, since so many of us are going to be feeling the effects of this for many years to come.