13 March 2024

4 Year Anniversary of COVID in the USA - and how deadly it was to be an American during the pandemic

4 years ago today ...

President Trump declared a national emergency in response to coronavirus on March 13, 2020, to provide emergency funding of up to $50 billion to state and local governments. (The US ended up spending $1.6 trillion on the COVID response in 2020. So, slightly more than first estimated.)

10 months later, 25,000 Americans a week were dying. About 1.2 million Americans have died of COVID.

Trump never did take responsibility for responding to COVID, insisting that states manage the response to this global pandemic.

The US death rate was awful in comparison to other countries. As of February 2022, Canada had fewer than 1,000 COVID-19 related deaths per million people, with a total of 919 deaths per million. Japan was noted for having the fewest deaths and infections among the G10 countries, with 156 deaths per million, despite having the oldest population and imposing the mildest restrictions. The United States had a significantly higher rate, with 2,750 deaths per million, which was the highest among the mentioned countries.

So, to repeat, per million death rate from COVID
Japan - 156
Canada - 919
US - 2,750

Which is to say, Americans died from COVID at 3X the rate as Canadians and at 18X the rate as the Japanese. It was pretty deadly to be an American during the pandemic.

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