photo: PDA’s Dr. Bill — Sacramento Single Payer Rally 6-15-21

By Dr. Bill Honigman, Healthcare Human Rights, Coordinator – Progressive Democrats of America

COVID & MFA REALITY CHECK

1,066,348 Total COVID19 deaths in US to date*

426,539 US COVID19 deaths prevented with MFA**

*Harvard University Daily Tracker

**Lancet Comm, Feb 2021

This is now our 142nd consecutive weekly PDA Online Sunday Town Hall that began when #COVID19 first hit the U.S. in the spring of 2020.  And once again today, sadly, we must report that the United States continues as the world leader among nations in total number of confirmed deaths due to the coronavirus.  In fact, with some 6 million total reported COVID19 deaths worldwide, the US can claim about 16% of those, that with only having less than 4% of the world’s population.

And if you’re not shocked by that, you’re definitely not paying attention, which is exactly where corporate media and establishment politicians want us to be.

The Harvard University daily tracking center is reporting the U.S. COVID19 total death toll today at 1,066,348, which means that an estimated 426,539 Americans have now died from COVID19 unnecessarily, and would still be alive today if we had a system of Universal Healthcare like #SinglePayer expanded and improved #MedicareForAll (MFA).

Once again, that’s about a thousand more, just this week alone, specifically 1,039 more Americans who have died from what amounts to political execution for the crime of being vulnerable to a system that exploits those with less, for the sake of those with more ability and the means to prevent and treat themselves, to avoid being victims of this disease.

This week, world new cases and death rates due to COVID19 continued to be decreasing in most areas, with some slight increase noted in South Korea, and some leveling off reported in both Brazil and Japan.

OurWorldInData.org is reporting now that only an estimated 67.9% of world population have received even just one dose of the COVID19 vaccine, and still only 23.1% of those who happen to live in low-income countries, primarily of the global south, have received even a first dose of a COVID19 vaccine.  

The U.S. still has only 68.8% with a completed initial series.  

The Johns Hopkins Resource Center which ranks countries by percentage COVID19 vaccinations as first dose only, this week has the U.S. again at No. 49, in this category, just behind Tuvalu and Panama, and just ahead of Kuwait and Belgium.

And the U.S. worst state for COVID19 vaccination continues to be Wyoming, still at only 52.4% of its population fully vaxxed.  Why not protect your people, Wy-oming?

According to Becker’s Hospital Review, the CDC is reporting a slight uptick in COVID19 hospitalizations this week, estimated at only about 1% so far.  However, that’s after nearly two months of consistent decline, and that’s with Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, infamous for their immune escape properties, continuing to gain prevalence nationwide.

The CDC now estimates that BQ.1 accounts for some 14% of current cases, and BQ.1.1 accounts for about 13.1%, while BA.5 remains the dominant strain here in the US at 49.6%, BF.7 is at 7.5%, and other Omicron subvariants largely make up the rest.  This, as only less than half of all Americans eligible for the new updated Omicron COVID19 booster have gotten their shot to date.

And according to the Palm Beach Post recently, the “nightmare” XBB strain of Omicron, which has caused a surge of infections in Singapore, and was found in Florida a few weeks ago, has yet to have created any kind of “wave” of infections there, but is still being watched closely.  Yet another reason to get your Omicron-specific booster.

Meanwhile, flu cases and hospitalizations are on the rise, putting an earlier than expected additional strain on medical resources in this country.  The first pediatric death due to flu in this season was reported just this week.  Of course, with a total of 43 such tragic deaths among children reported in last year’s flu season, sadly, more can be expected. 

Even more reason to get your flu vaccine, to protect the child or other friends or family that you might unwittingly expose to this recurring and synergistic scourge.

And finally, two related COVID19 outcomes of concern:  First, Definitive Healthcare Data and Analytics released a report this week showing an estimated 330,000+ medical providers in the US are now believed to have left the workforce in 2021.  That includes about 117,000 physicians, 53,000 nurse practitioners, 22,000 physician assistants, 22,000 physical therapists, and over 15,000 licensed clinical social workers, with the specialties among physicians hardest hit, being as you might expect, in primary care, mental health care, and emergency care.

Secondly of concern, according to the Associated Press this week, results of recent nationwide testing showed, “The COVID19 pandemic caused historic learning setbacks for America’s children, sparing no state or region as it erased decades of academic progress and widened racial disparities…” and “across the country, math scores saw their largest decreases ever.  Reading scores dropped to 1992 levels…and four in ten eighth graders failed to grasp basic math concepts.  [And also] not a single state saw a notable improvement in their average test scores, with some simply treading water at best.”

Even more reason to once and for all have Universal Healthcare in this country, where ALL the people get ALL the care.  Isn’t it time that we enter the civilized world for the sake of ALL our children and grandchildren, and demand Medicare for All?

Thanks again and onward!