The stats on deaths from Covid are not comforting for seniors

Today's startling statistic: one in every one hundred Americans over 65 has died from Covid.

Think of that. We are now up to 800,000 deaths in the country due to the pandemic and three-quarters of American deaths were people 65 and older. 

Bonus factoid: people over 65 are the most vaccinated age group in the country -- 87 percent -- yet still the virus kills. If you are under 65, the chances of dying of Covid (since the beginning of the plague) are about 1 in 1,400. 

It turns out that if you are old, in poor health, with underlying conditions and excess weight, even a booster shot may not be enough to save you.

This is a bit startling, since most of the country has grown tired of the pandemic and has decided to basically go back to "normal" and accept the slim chances of infection, hospitalization and death. 

How we look at a pandemic that mostly kills grandpa and grandma depends a bit on your quality of life and on your income and ability to avoid being breathed on by younger people shedding the virus. After all, being human means we are all doomed to die at some point, and that muddies our reactions a bit.

Aren't you sadder to hear about a seven-year-old dying than about an eighty-year-old? 

I will be 72 next July and accept that most of my best work is behind me. But I am relatively healthy and mobile and still do a bit of teaching and writing and critiquing and singing... you get the idea. 

There is a logic in not worrying as much about the elderly dying. In terms of cold facts, most seniors are not contributing as much to society as they once did, nor as much as a vibrant 40-year-old. I know I'm not.

I will note that these stats indicate to me that the nation/world needs to start recognizing and planning for this reality of the pandemic mostly targeting the elderly. I have no easy strategies in mind, but at least we could reduce the fear and anxiety level of most people under 65 and in good health. 

It is tempting to claim that younger Americans, suffering only mild Covid symptoms in most cases, are spreading the disease and killing the Baby Boomers we all like to make fun of. That wouldn't be fair, though, would it?

Or would it?