So the current new panic mongering is over how the Covid-19 virus has decreased life expectancy by 1.5 years.
The first year of the pandemic reduced Americans’ life expectancy at birth by 1.5 years, to 77.3 years. That erased the country’s gains since 2003. It was the largest annual decline since 1943, in the middle of World War II. Goldman said that it was the second largest decline since the 1918 influenza pandemic, which is believed to have killed some 50 million people worldwide.
Omg! The second largest decline since the Spanish Flu! It must be equivalent right?
Wrong.
The life expectancy drop from the 1918 virus was 6.8 years (54-47.2). Furthermore the 1.5 year drop is only a 1.9% drop in life expectancy. Meanwhile the Spanish flu drop was a 12.6% drop in life expectancy.
This again is in track with the 1:5 ratio of deaths/population comparing Covid to the Spanish Flu. The ratio difference here being 1:6.6
I wonder how much of that amount is actual covid and how much is the government's "handling" of covid.
The US had an extra 30k (1/3 increase) substance abuse deaths, so a non-trivial portion.
Add in the lack of exercise and general weight gain, and you've probably explained half of that.
The other half would be people with non-COVID illnesses being denied (or denying themselves) healthcare due to fear.
And just to be clear, those people are all ages. A 20 year-old dying to a drug overdose is hugely more years of life lost and has many more times of an impact on life expectancy statistics than an 85 year old dying to the wuhan virus in a nursing home.
And that's just counting the deaths that have already happened. Deaths due to the effects of the lockdown will continue for decades, because it's not like all those jobs lost and all those businesses destroyed will just reappear where everything left off tomorrow.
The lockdown was hugely more dangerous than the disease.
Don't forget the 30% murder increase in 2020: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/there-no-modern-precedent-american-murder-rate-soars-30-2020
In Canada, lockdowns killed far more of those under 65 than covid did.
Between suicides, overdoses, lower QOL due to isolation, not seeing friends, family and the fucking sun, I'd imagine there's a fair amount that could be blamed on handling