Americans accept all sorts of avoidable deaths, sadly

The pandemic is over and all is well, at least that is how Americans are living their lives. But about 300 people are dying each day in this country from Covid, and 90 percent(!) are 65 or older.

So this has become a plague among the elderly... and that includes me. The good news for me and other old-timers like me is that I don't have multiple chronic conditions that put me at the highest risk. 

So I have been vaccinated and double boosted and then boosted one more time for the latest variants... and am feeling quite safe. Kathleen and I still wear masks in airports and on flights but that's about it in terms of taking extra precautions. Perhaps we are naive.

Beyond my personal situation, which may put me among the lucky ones (having ducked getting the virus for nearly two years), the national issue is that the country has made a general trade-off that 300 per day senior citizens dying of the virus is "acceptable losses." 

It's a sort of ageism, I suppose. After all, those old-timers have had their day and it's time for them to leave the stage... perhaps permanently. The problem is that most folks my age aren't actually doing badly and aren't yearning to leave this "vale of tears."

Americans are similarly making a bargain regarding guns and violence and mass murder. The Gun Violence Center, which has the unhappy goal of tracking mass shootings in America -- defined as at least four people shot, not counting the shooter -- and the home of the free boasted 607 mass shootings as of Nov. 22. That may soon push the 2021 total of 690 mass shootings. 

At least we are keeping our mass shootings to under two per day, on average. So there's the good news.

Americans have learned to shrug at the idea that 110,000 people, mostly over 65, will die of Covid this year, added to the over one million already dead. 

Thus far in 2022, 18,360 Americans of all ages have died from gun violence, along with 21,912 suicides by gun.

Digging a bit deeper, thus far, 291 children up to age 11 have been killed by gun violence, along with another 641 injured. And 1,237 12-18 year-olds have died and another 3,478 injured via the gun.

Thoughts and prayers, of course.

Of course, the eventual death rate for humans is 100 percent, and the U.S. has a population of over 330 million, so the statistical chances of dying from either Covid or gun violence remain quite low. 

I also read today that most first world countries have seen decreasing numbers of deaths among pedestrians and bicyclists over the past few years. But not America -- our rates of non-drivers killed by cars is going up and quite quickly. The article pointed out all sorts of strategies for making those not inside the car more safe, but we just don't care enough to invest in simple safety practices, mechanical improvements and road construction.

Human mortality is unavoidable, but there really are an excessive number of avoidable deaths each day and month and year in America.

Those deaths are the price we pay for... no one really knows.