Life With Covid: It’s Shorter and More Likely to Kill You than Cancer or Heart Attack — or War
Jane Jewell • March 2, 2021
Covid-19 is now the number one cause of death in the United States. It killed an average of over 2000 people per week during February 2021. The first documented covid-19 death in the U.S. happened just over a year ago on February 6, 2020. Now there are over a half-million covid deaths in the U.S.
The pandemic has been significantly worse in America than in most other countries. The U.S. has only 4.25 percent of the world’s population but about 20 percent of all covid deaths.
For decades, the leading causes of death in America have been heart disease (mainly heart attacks), cancer, and accidents — in that order. Every week, every year, with only the occasional exception, this has been the pattern. War has sometimes disrupted that pattern but now covid-19 has surpassed war. With over 500,000 deaths from covid-19 in the U.S., that’s more than our losses in World War I, World War II, and Viet Nam combined. And covid-19 reached that number in only one year.
The war deaths were spread out over close to 15 years — one and a half years for America’s involvement in WWI, four years for WWII, and nine years in Viet Nam. Some military statistics include only combat fatalities; others also include military personnel who die from disease and non-combat accidents. Among soldiers there are often a large number of deaths from disease and accident. In Viet Nam, there were over 47,000 combat deaths but almost an additional 11,000 deaths from other causes. But counted either way, covid-19 has surpassed the combined totals for these three major wars. A startling and sobering statistic.
The total still climbs. Covid-19 will soon exceed the death total of the bloodiest war America has ever been involved in, its own Civil War over 150 years ago, which had an estimated 500-600 thousand fatalities by the time it ended in 1865. No one knows how high the total will be for this pandemic by the time it’s through.
The National Academy of Sciences analyzed data for 2020 and estimated that the pandemic would cause a reduction of 1.13 years in U.S. life expectancy. But those results are three to four times greater for Black and Latino Americans than for White Americans. The Academy’s research paper concluded that, “Consequently, covid-19 is expected to reverse over 10 [years] of progress made in closing the Black−White gap in life expectancy and reduce the previous Latino mortality advantage by over 70 percent.”
On a more encouraging note, the number of new cases and hospitalizations has been declining since the post-holiday surge in late December and January. And people are being vaccinated at a rate of over a million per day. Right here in Maryland, Emergent BioSolutions in Baltimore is the main manufacturing plant for the newly approved Johnson & Johnson as well as the not-yet approved AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccines. The firm hopes to be shipping millions of vials of both varieties of vaccine starting sometime in March, thus significantly increasing the vaccine supply.
Currently, Maryland’s allotment has been about 2 percent of the nation’s supply weekly, or about 88,000 doses weekly of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, though the state has not always received its full allotment each week due to various supply-chain problems and weather issues. Governor Hogan said that Maryland could start receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in early March. That could add about 4,400 doses per week to begin with, and more as production in Baltimore ramps up.
The Maryland Health Department is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to open a new mass vaccination site in Waldorf, Charles County, in the stadium of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs minor-league baseball team. The population of Charles County is just over 50 percent African American. A mass-vax site opened in Baltimore last week in the Ravens football stadium. Once the Charles County site opens, all four of Maryland’s large-scale vaccination sites will be located in majority-non-White jurisdictions. This will help with the inequality in vaccination rates so far and get the vaccine to those who are at the highest risk of complications and death.
Two more mass-vax sites are in the works, one for the Eastern Shore and one for Western Maryland. Both will open at unspecified dates later in the spring. Each mass-vax site will vaccinate hundreds per day with the capacity to vaccinate thousands per day as supplies become available.
Yes, vaccines and booster shots for the new coronavirus variants are on the way, but this pandemic is far from over. So be careful out there! And take whichever vaccine you can get. Vaccination won’t prevent you from being exposed to the virus, but all of the vaccine varieties provide very good protection from a severe case of covid-19 with all its possible consequences. All of us are going to be exposed to this new coronavirus sooner or later and, as a society, we will be dealing with it from now on. Developing good vaccines, new treatments, and herd immunity are the only solutions, and we all have our part to play in that.
Sources and more information:
The Guardian; “US Life Expectancy Dropped a Year in First Covid Wave, Officials Say”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/18/us-life-expectancy-covid-coronavirus-cdc
New York Times, “Entering Uncharted Territory, the U.S. Counts 500,000 Covid-related Deaths”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/22/us/us-covid-deaths-half-a-million.html
National Geographic, “U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Now Surpass Fatalities in the Vietnam War”
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/coronavirus-death-toll-vietnam-war-cvd
Maryland Matters, “State, FEMA to Open Mass Vaccination Site in Charles County”
https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/02/23/state-fema-to-open-mass-vaccination-site-in-charles-county/
Jane Jewell is a writer, editor, photographer, and teacher. She has worked in news, publishing, and as the director of a national writer's group. She lives in Chestertown with her husband Peter Heck, a ginger cat named Riley, and a lot of books.
Common Sense for the Eastern Shore
Right now, Congress is working on a fast-track bill that would make historic cuts to basic needs programs in order to finance another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.
The House Agriculture Committee recently voted, along party lines, to advance legislation that would cut as much as $300 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, helping more than 41 million people in the U.S. pay for food. With potential cuts this large, it helps to know who benefits from this program in Maryland, and who would lose this assistance. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities compiled data on SNAP beneficiaries by congressional district, cited below, and produced the Maryland state datasheet , shown below. In Maryland, in 2023-24, 1 in 9 people lived in a household with SNAP benefits. In Maryland’s First Congressional District, in 2023-24: Almost 34,000 households used SNAP benefits. Of those households, 43% had at least one senior (over age 60). 29% of SNAP recipients were people of color. 15% were Black, non-Hispanic, higher than 11.8% nationally. 6% were Hispanic (19.4% nationally). There were 24,700 total veterans (ages 18-64). Of those, 2,200 lived in households that used SNAP benefits (9%). The CBPP SNAP datasheet for Maryland is below. See data from all the states and download factsheets here.
Apparently, some people think that the GOP’s “big beautiful bill” is a foregone conclusion, and that the struggle over the budget and Trump’s agenda is over and done. Not true. On Sunday night, the bill — given the alternate name “Big Bad Bullsh*t Bill” by the Democratic Women’s Caucus — was voted out of the House Budget Committee. The GOP plan is to pass this legislation in the House before Memorial Day. But that’s not the end of it. As Jessica Craven explained in her Chop Wood Carry Water column: “Remember, we have at least six weeks left in this process. The bill has to: Pass the House, Then head to the Senate where it will likely be rewritten almost completely, Then be passed there, Then be brought back to the House for reconciliation, And then, if the House changes that version at all, Go back to the Senate for another vote.” She adds, “Every step of that process is a place for us to kill it.” The bill is over a thousand pages long, and the American people will not get a chance to read it until it has passed the House. But, thanks to 5Calls , we know it includes:
Let's talk about our Eastern Shore Delegation, the representatives who are supposed to fight for our nine Shore counties in Annapolis, and what they actually got up to this session.
For the first time in recent memory, Virginia Democrats have candidates running in all 100 House of Delegates districts — a milestone party leaders and grassroots organizers say reflects rising momentum as President Donald Trump’s second term continues to galvanize opposition.
The 447th legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly adjourned on April 8. This End of Session Report highlights the work Shore Progress has done to fight for working families and bring real results home to the Shore. Over the 90-day session, lawmakers debated 1,901 bills and passed 878 into law. Shore Progress and members supported legislation that delivers for the Eastern Shore, protecting our environment, expanding access to housing and healthcare, strengthening workers’ rights, and more. Shore Progress Supported Legislation By The Numbers: Over 60 pieces of our backed legislation were passed. Another 15 passed in one Chamber but not the other. Legislation details are below, past the budget section. The 2026 Maryland State Budget How We Got Here: Maryland’s budget problems didn’t start overnight. They began under Governor Larry Hogan. Governor Hogan expanded the state budget yearly but blocked the legislature from moving money around or making common-sense changes. Instead of fixing the structural issues, Hogan used federal covid relief funds to hide the cracks and drained our state’s savings from $5.5 billion to $2.3 billion to boost his image before leaving office. How Trump/Musk Made It Worse: Maryland is facing a new fiscal crisis driven by the Trump–Musk administration, whose trade wars, tariff policies, and deep federal cuts have hit us harder than most, costing the state over 30,000 jobs, shuttering offices, and erasing promised investments. A University of Maryland study estimates Trump’s tariffs alone could cost us $2 billion, and those federal cuts have already added $300 million to our budget deficit. Covid aid gave us a short-term boost and even created a fake surplus under Hogan, but that money is gone, while housing, healthcare, and college prices keep rising. The Trump–Musk White House is only making things worse by slashing funding, gutting services, and eliminating research that Marylanders rely on. How The State Budget Fixes These Issues: This year, Maryland faced a $3 billion budget gap, and the General Assembly fixed it with a smart mix of cuts and fair new revenue, while protecting working families, schools, and health care. The 2025 Budget cuts $1.9 billion ($400 million less than last year) without gutting services people rely on. The General Assembly raised $1.2 billion in fair new revenue, mostly from the wealthiest Marylanders. The Budget ended with a $350 million surplus, plus $2.4 billion saved in the Rainy Day Fund (more than 9% of general fund revenue), which came in $7 million above what the Spending Affordability Committee called for. The budget protects funding for our schools, health care, transit, and public workers. The budget delivers real wins: $800 million more annually for transit and infrastructure, plus $500 million for long-term transportation needs. It invests $9.7 billion in public schools and boosts local education aid by $572.5 million, a 7% increase. If current revenue trends hold, no new taxes will be needed next session. Even better, 94% of Marylanders will see a tax cut or no change, while only the wealthiest 5% will finally pay their fair share. The tax system is smarter now. We’re: Taxing IT and data services like Texas and D.C. do; Raising taxes on cannabis and sports betting, not groceries or medicine; and Letting counties adjust income taxes. The budget also restores critical funding: $122 million for teacher planning $15 million for cancer research $11 million for crime victims $7 million for local business zones, and Continued support for public TV, the arts, and BCCC The budget invests in People with disabilities, with $181 million in services Growing private-sector jobs with $139 million in funding, including $27.5 million for quantum tech, $16 million for the Sunny Day Fund, and $10 million for infrastructure loans. Health care is protected for 1.5 million Marylanders, with $15.6 billion for Medicaid and higher provider pay. Public safety is getting a boost too, with $60 million for victim services, $5.5 million for juvenile services, and $5 million for parole and probation staffing. This budget also tackles climate change with $100 million for clean energy and solar projects, and $200 million in potential ratepayer relief. Public workers get a well-deserved raise, with $200 million in salary increases, including a 1% COLA and ~2.5% raises for union workers. The ultra-wealthy will finally chip in to pay for it: People earning over $750,000 will pay more, Millionaires will pay 6.5%, and Capital gains over $350,000 get a 2% surcharge. Deductions are capped for high earners, but working families can still deduct student loans, medical debt, and donations. This budget is bold, fair, and built to last. That’s why Shore Progress proudly supports it. Click on the arrows below for details in each section.
