I have very personal reasons for wanting the pandemic restrictions precautions to remain in place, but I realise that most young, healthy people have no such concerns. They know they’re immortal so the death toll from Covid is simply a number…right?
Wrong. The numbers shown on the graph below are for the US only, and while the great majority of Covid deaths occur in the 50+ age brackets, there are some eye-wateringly large numbers in the younger age groups as well:

The numbers shown in the graph above are already out of date but they provide a useful snapshot of who’s been dying in the US. As a mother, I can’t look at 795 children dying of Covid without getting a lump in my throat. Covid is an awful way to die.
And what about the young adult age group? 5,581 deaths doesn’t seem like a lot in a population of 360+ million people, but what if we compare those deaths to military personnel lost by the US in the last 100 odd years?
Afghanistan
‘Only’ 1,928 young lives lost during the 20 years the US military spent in Afghanistan:

Covid 5,581 vs Afghan War 1,928.
I’m not going to bother working out the yearly average. These numbers speak for themselves.
Iraq
Click on the pic below to see the full sized version. There you will see that ‘only’ 4,431 young people died in the Iraq offensive.

Covid 5,581 vs Iraq War 4,431.
Vietnam
Going further back in time to a period in which I was a young adult, the Vietnam war resulted in 58,220 deaths from a range of causes:

That’s a lot more than the 18 – 29 year olds [5,581] who’ve died from Covid thus far, but the Vietnam war went on for roughly ten and a half years – from August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975 – and the youngest soldiers to die were only 16 while the oldest was 62:

I don’t want to create shifty numbers by counting those Covid deaths under 19 or those in the 40 to 64 year old age brackets. Instead, I’ll just add the 18-29 year old group to that of the 30-39 year olds – i.e. 5581 + 16,343.
Why? Because 18 to 39 is a realistic age range for people fighting in wars, and if I’m going to compare Covid deaths to military deaths then I want it to be as accurate as possible.
So, combining those two age groups gives a total of 21,924 Covid deaths. Divide 21,924 by 2 [ie the two years of the pandemic], and you get an average of 10,962 Covid deaths per year.
If you now divide the total number of Vietnam deaths [58,220] by 10.5 [i.e. the number of years of the war], you get an average of 5544.762 deaths per year.
Covid = 10,962 deaths per year
Vietnam = 5544.8 deaths per year
Korea
Further back still, US forces suffered a total of 36,913 military deaths in Korea from 1950 to 1953:

Although the Korean War never officially ended, active fighting only lasted for three years so I’ll base my calculations on the 3 year number. If you divide the total number of deaths in Korea [36,913] by 3 [ie the number of years], you get an average of 12,304 deaths per year.
Covid = 10,962 deaths per year
Korea = 12,304 deaths per year
For the first time, we get a war that’s been more deadly than Covid, but we had to go back almost 70 years to do so.
And finally we go all the way back to World War II.
World War II

In World War II, the US lost 407,300 military lives from December 11, 1941 to September 2, 1945. That’s a period of almost 4 years. If we divide the total number of military deaths [407,300] by 4 [i.e. the number of years of the war], we get an average of 101,825 deaths per year.
Covid = 10,962 deaths per year
WWII = 101,825 deaths per year
Another war that has beaten the number of Covid deaths…or has it?
What if I add up all those military deaths and average them over the total number of years in which wars were fought?
The screenshot above is from an Excel spreadsheet I created. The Covid deaths by age group are eight days out of date but they were the only ones I could find so I inserted a more up to date figure in the final Totals row.
To me, two things almost leap off the page:
- there have now been almost twice as many Covid deaths in the US as all military deaths combined [since 1941],
- the military deaths in the US took place over a period of 45 years. The Covid deaths occurred in just two years. And the pandemic isn’t over.
If the US lost this many people in a war, the nation would be in mourning for a century. Why do these Covid deaths not inspire the same sense of horror…and respect?
A lot of people say that restrictions cannot last forever. They say that people have to be given their personal freedoms back.
I say there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Personal freedoms are not a right. They cannot exist without a society to support them. The social contract says that individuals give up some things in order to receive the protection of the ‘group’.
What kind of protection? Education, healthcare, law enforcement, a justice system, public transport, roads, jobs, homes, high tech gadgets, nightclubs, parties, power, food, clean water to drink and flush indoor toilets…
Now think about what would happen if all electricity stopped being produced for two weeks. Would you survive without light, aircon, heating, food delivered to supermarkets, rubbish removed from the streets, street lighting, access to hospitals, public transport etc etc.?
Some of you would, 99.9999999% of us wouldn’t.
All the protections I’ve listed plus thousands more are our reward for contributing to society and abiding by its rules. If we don’t want to abide by those rules we are free to find a desert island and live like savages.
If we can’t survive on our own, we have to accept that personal freedom, individual freedom can only exist within the context of a society of some sort. But that freedom must be earned.
How? Through social responsibility towards all members of society, even those you don’t personally care about.
Why? Because everyone will get old and sick eventually. If you want to be cared for when your time comes then you have to pay your dues now.
And finally a word about restrictions. Wearing a mask to protect yourself and others is not fun, but it’s miles better than dying of Covid. It’s also preferable to having your economy collapse because everyone is off work being sick.
Good hygiene is something everyone should practise all the time, not just when a pandemic hits. Not washing your hands after pointing percy at the porcelain, or wiping your bum, or picking your nose is disgusting. Only creeps do that. Yuck.
Keeping your distance from others so as not to spread the virus may not be ‘fun’. In fact, it can crimp your social life if clubbing or getting pissed at the pub are your favourite things in life. But keeping your distance from others won’t kill you. It could kill me, and dying is no fun either.
More to the point, dying is permanent. No coming back from the grave. No miraculous resurrections. Dead is dead is dead. Forever.
By contrast, missing out on your social life is temporary. Equating the two is like saying that stubbing your toe is as bad as having the whole leg amputated.
With the greatest respect, grow a pair and grow the fuck up.
Meeks
p.s. most of my data came from Statista.com or Wikipedia. Information on the oldest and youngest Vietnam death is from : https://www.uswings.com/about-us-wings/vietnam-war-facts/
April 16th, 2022 at 1:38 pm
Firstly, as someone who lives in a not-so deserted island nation, our COVID deaths would have to triple to be comparative to those of the US. We have a hard time understanding this casual approach to the deaths of so many.
Secondly, what is most horrifying is how the business community wants to pretend that the pandemic never happened. Low wages, callous treatment of workers, it’s no wonder so many Americans are quitting their jobs. My advice, stay strong and focus on what’s important.
https://www.writingsofamidlifeman.com/2022/03/29/death-happiness-and-you/
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April 16th, 2022 at 10:13 pm
Yes, it’s that ‘casual approach to the deaths of so many’ that horrifies me too.
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February 23rd, 2022 at 3:26 pm
Well, there you go little Missy, relying on all that data and science and stuff! Proves you’re not all that fond of the real world the real people live in.
(I know you’ll get the sarcasm, Meeks, but just in case there’s someone reading this who thinks I’m serious … get a life! )
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February 23rd, 2022 at 8:29 pm
-giggles- Of course I did. You can take the girl out of Oz but you can’t take Oz out of the girl. :p Promise me that once you and Mrs Widds hit the road, you’ll try to keep in contact with us, at least every couple of days! Your brand of wicked humour would be sorely missed otherwise. π
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February 25th, 2022 at 12:24 pm
Not to worry. I have a plan! π
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February 26th, 2022 at 8:45 am
Plans are good. π
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February 22nd, 2022 at 4:09 am
I have to chime in: the most severe undercalculation is the long-term effects of LONG COVID. Having 10-30% of those who get sick NEVER recover (trust me on this one – I’ve had ME/CFS for over three decades, and it cost me my career as a research physicist at Princeton) mean MILLIONS more people go from productive – building those bridges, picking the fruit, making your cheese and wine – to NEEDING the meager benefits society thinks sick people can survive on, in addition to tons more medical benefits.
Those are the ‘lucky ones’ who don’t die.
I’m just waiting for the outcry when that nasty little statistic starts hitting individuals, and all their families.
Because right now ‘I survived covid’ seems to be a badge of honour. These people haven’t even begun to suffer – it’s only two years in for the worst of them.
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February 22nd, 2022 at 12:46 pm
Yes. True, true, true. Long Covid is the elephant in the room that no government wants to acknowledge. How are all these people going to survive in the future once the panic dies down and everyone tries to forget Covid ever happened?
In a way it’ll be like returned servicemen and women. Once the parades are over, no one will want to pick up the cleaning bill.
People have short memories at the best of times, but they can be positively microscopic when they /want/ to forget.
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February 22nd, 2022 at 12:52 pm
Not this time. Civilians aren’t likely to remain passive once they realize what’s going on. We’re already squawking in articles in the media, and they’re not going to like it in Canberra when the wheelchair brigades and the parades of Millions Missing shoes start showing up.
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February 22nd, 2022 at 12:55 pm
Ugh. I hope you’re right because they’re doing a good job of playing at the 3 monkeys so far. π¦
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February 22nd, 2022 at 2:24 am
Except for the Civil War (I’m touring those battlefields at the end of 2021), we seem to be better at war than managing disease.
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February 22nd, 2022 at 12:49 pm
-sigh- War is sexy, disease is not. If every government on earth spent as much money on healthcare and R&D as they did on defence, we’d have cured cancer by now.
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February 22nd, 2022 at 1:08 pm
Your assuming cancer is curable. Hmm… I am not convinced of that yet!
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February 22nd, 2022 at 1:10 pm
lol – don’t tell anyone but I’m not sure of that either. Cancer is an aberration within us, not a disease imposed from the outside. But getting rid of it is the holy grail. π
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February 22nd, 2022 at 1:17 pm
So well said.
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February 22nd, 2022 at 3:03 pm
Just submitted my review for 24. Loved it. Hope it gets through faster than the first one. cheers!
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February 23rd, 2022 at 2:19 am
I’m blushing Love that review. I had some tough news yesterday so your post is just what I needed!
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February 23rd, 2022 at 8:21 am
I’m glad the review helped and I hope you’re ok.
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February 23rd, 2022 at 8:54 am
I’m good. Just the way things are, don’t you think?
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February 23rd, 2022 at 8:31 pm
-hugs- Yeah. Good days and bad days.
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February 21st, 2022 at 7:30 pm
They will until it gets personal and then it will matter -sigh-
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February 22nd, 2022 at 12:54 pm
Yeah… -sigh-…I guess there’s a certain poetic justice in that but…much too late for everyone else.
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February 21st, 2022 at 4:52 pm
As you say, death is permanent. Covid restrictions are not. Speaks for itself. Here in NZ, incidentally, the protestors in Parliament grounds threw their own excrement at police this morning (rendering them, basically, chimps as far as I am concerned), and it’s also becoming increasingly clear that they have covid amongst them – police despatched to the protest have been testing positive. It’s not right – the police have been doing a fantastic job and it’s not fair on them.
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February 21st, 2022 at 6:47 pm
Oh yuck. That is so disgusting I don’t know what to say. The so-called Construction Worker protests clashed with police here too, physically, infecting god knows how many of the police.
It’s not fair. I truly do not understand why they can’t be tried for attempted murder. π¦
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February 21st, 2022 at 3:47 pm
HI Meeks this is very interesting information. Here is SA, there can be no more lockdowns or other restrictive measures. The damage to our economy is to great and it is literally a choice between people dying of starvation or risking Covid. I am sure our figures are extremely understated as no testing happens and if you die untested you can’t be included in the Covid stats. Our government has retained masks, social distancing to a degree and hand sanitising. I think they are doing the best they can and I’m proud of our people for their compliance as a nation.
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February 21st, 2022 at 7:09 pm
Ugh. South Africa is being held up as an example of ‘mild’ Omicron is/was. I’m really sorry to hear that the situation on the ground is very different.
I do understand that people must eat. The fact that those basic, commonsense precautions are still being practiced places SA way ahead of far richer countries that are basically letting the virus rip without any precautions whatsoever.
If we do have to ‘live with covid’ then masks, social distancing where possible and hand sanitising is what will make the difference between a manageable disease and one that decimates global populations.
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February 22nd, 2022 at 5:37 am
Hi Meeks, I do agree. I think our government has done as good a job as is possible in the circumstances.
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February 22nd, 2022 at 12:42 pm
South Africa has had a lot to contend with, even before the pandemic. But the country has risen to the challenge. Like Thailand, you’ve proved that good will can often be more effective than high tech.
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February 22nd, 2022 at 3:46 pm
Yes, I think that is true.
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February 21st, 2022 at 3:19 pm
330M – pop. US.
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February 21st, 2022 at 7:10 pm
lol – thanks Mole. I knew it was over 300 but not exactly by how much. π
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February 21st, 2022 at 3:00 pm
I am impressed with the amount of work and research you have put into this and it is worrying…Thank you for bringing this to our attention x
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February 21st, 2022 at 7:11 pm
-sigh- Just me being obsessive, Carol. Part of me cannot believe humans are dismissing the deaths as unimportant. π¦
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February 23rd, 2022 at 3:33 pm
You ever read The Thorn Birds? There’s a great line that’s stuck with me after all these years. (I read it when it first came out, waaaay back when. π )
Some city reporter asks the matriarch, (forget her name now) why the sheep are treated so badly. (from the reporter’s point of view anyway … and the matriarch replies something along the lines of ,’society always ignores what has an excess of,’ … our world has an excess of humans, and not just any humans either, but the ones that aren’t ‘us’.
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February 23rd, 2022 at 8:27 pm
Gawd…I think I must have read the Thorn Birds at about the same time as you, Widds. I don’t remember much of it but that is a brilliant quote. And quite chilling. I’m glad you guys are part of /my/ ‘us’. -hugs-
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February 25th, 2022 at 12:24 pm
Ditto. π
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