COVID Fear (and Thoughts on Death)

Perhaps you think it dark to dwell on death, but there are bright spots.

According to the United States Deaths Clock website, in the US:

A person dies approximately every 11.14 seconds

Number of deaths per year: 2,830,688

Number of deaths per day: 7,755

Number of deaths per hour: 323

What are the major causes of death in our country? The CDC’s FastStats – Deaths and Mortality website gave me this:

Heart disease: 659,041

Cancer: 599,601

Accidents (unintentional injuries): 173,040

Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 156,979

Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 150,005

Alzheimer’s disease: 121,499

Diabetes: 87,647

Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 51,565

Influenza and Pneumonia: 49,783

Intentional self-harm (suicide): 47,511

How does this compare with the number of COVID cases we are now experiencing? Again, according to the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker Weekly Review (you have to scroll to the bottom of their page to see this):

The current 7-day moving average of new deaths (296) has increased 33.3% compared with the previous 7-day moving average (222). The current 7-day moving average is 91.8% lower than the peak observed on January 13, 2021 (3,625) and is 77.1% higher than the lowest value observed on July 10, 2021 (167). As of July 28, a total of 609,853 COVID-19 deaths have been reported.

If we maintained this 7-day average of 296 deaths per day from COVID, we would have 108,040 deaths in a year. This is fewer than the the number who die from Alzheimer’s disease each year. It’s not good, but neither is it a pandemic. This is not anywhere near the number of people who die from cancer or heart disease each year. In fact, you’ll notice that a grand total of 609,853 people have died from COVID-19 (reported, anyway), which is still fewer than the number of people who die each year from heart disease.

Perhaps we should focus more on heart disease than on COVID.

Most media outlets tout today’s extreme circumstances because of COVID-19. They say those who are not vaccinated are killing everyone around them. They say we will have to mandate masks again because this is so serious. Is it though? I’m just asking you to consider the naked numbers.

Do you know how may people live in the United States? Our population counts around 332,575,445, according to the Population Clock on Census.gov. How many have died from COVID-19? According to the numbers cited above, 609,853 have died. That is 0.18% of our total population has died from the virus since we started counting, less than 2 out of 1,000.

And, Folks, the rate of death has dropped like a rock this year. For many states, December 2020 through around March 2021 were the worst months for COVID deaths. We saw the peak of total deaths in a single day on January 13, 2021 with 3,625 recorded as having died. Today (July 31, 2021), the total number of COVID deaths was 370, according to the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker website. No doubt the high number of elderly who have obtained the vaccine has helped. Untracked numbers have had the virus and have built natural antibodies, which has pushed us closer to herd immunity.

Hardly ANY children die from this virus (a total of 340 kids from age 0 to 17 have died in the United States according to the CDC’s COVID-19 Deaths by Age website). Many children have gotten sick, but most have mild symptoms. Once they get over it, they have built natural antibodies and are more resistant to the virus.

According to this article on the Heritage Foundation’s website, “CDC data also show that Americans, regardless of age group, are far more likely to die of something other than COVID-19.”

So why is everyone losing his mind over this virus? It has now been rendered less threatening to our population than many other diseases. Many of our favorite media outlets continue fostering fear, pushing panic, mandating masks. The CDC does not seem to be following the science in its recommendations. Our policy makers do not seem to be following the numbers. Where is the risk assessment?

What level of risk are we willing to tolerate? We risk something every time we walk by a busy road, eat a large dessert, or hug a loved one. In the back of our minds we subconsciously assess the risk, “Do I believe this will harm me more than give me joy? Do I believe this will benefit me more than hurt me?” Then we take that walk, eat that bowl of ice cream, and hug grandma because we desire the activity and we don’t feel it will bring us great harm.

We have been hearing media outlets and our government tell us for a year and a half now that COVID is super-extra-duper dangerous, that it’s a killer, and that we risk everyone else’s lives if we walk around without something covering our faces. It’s hard not to believe that now, even though the risk level has plummeted extremely low.

Even in the worst periods of the pandemic I tried not to listen to fear-mongering but look at the raw data. It didn’t look so bad even then. If I were older, I’d probably have been more concerned, quicker to grab a vaccine. But at my age I have not been greatly concerned. I am certainly not fearful for my kids, who are all under 18 years old. If they get it, it probably won’t hurt them badly and it almost certainly won’t kill them. It will be like a mild flu for them, most likely.

But guess what? We will all die of something at some point. And I mean that in the most comforting and encouraging way possible. I mean, you could go get the vaccine and immediately walk out in front of a semi. You could be diagnosed with some form of cancer. You could have a heart attack. You will die of something at some point. All those who are spreading COVID fear are attempting to sell us on the lie that we can somehow cheat death if we just do the right things. But death is a door each of us will walk through, an appointment each of us will keep. I suppose if you are not ready to die, this is probably not so encouraging, but to someone who loves the Lord Jesus Christ and has faith in His promise of eternal life, death is just the beginning of eternity with God.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

John 3.16-17

Don’t fear the wrong things. Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10.28). Don’t fear physical death, in other words, but fear God and keep His commandments because He is the great Judge of all the earth! This virus may or may not hurt you, but one thing is for certain–it cannot touch your eternal soul.