
<p>One way to compare Covid-19 deaths is how many people die per million of population. </p>



<p>The <em>New York Times</em> recently ran a story that suggests that the more advanced western nations had much higher rates of death-per-million than did under-developed nations – especially the United States. Whoever did the <em>Times </em>analysis placed America in the number one worst position.  ;But was it a fair analysis – or just more media disinformation designed to conform to pre-established prejudicial narratives? ;</p>



<p>Using deaths-per-million, the <em>Times</em> reported Britain with 1862 deaths, Italy (1651), the United States (1580), Mexico (1492), France (1319), Brazil (1252), Germany (865), and so forth.</p>



<p>Conversely, they showed selected Asian and Sub-Saharan African nations at much lower numbers – Indonesia (137), India (115), Japan (65), Ethiopia (22), China (3), Thailand (1) and Vietnam (0).</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Just looking at the numbers above, how did the <em>Times</em> place America as the number one worst if we are third in the <em>Times</em> own count? ; </h4>



<p>Simple. ; The <em>Times</em> arbitrarily ranked the nations by average income. ; That automatically puts America in the undesirable first and worst position. ; The only reason they may have done that is to add fodder to their ceaseless and dubious narrative that President Trump and Republicans mishandled the crisis this past year. ; If not, the <em>Times</em> needs to do some ‘splainin.’ ;</p>



<p>Ranking by deaths-per-million may seem logical on the surface, but it creates all sorts of confusing anomalies. ; If you look at the official government statistics, the United States is THIRD in the number of deaths-per-million. But that is not how the <em>Times</em> made it look. ; The number one nation is … drum roll please … Portugal with a total of 1628 deaths-per-million. ; If you find that surprising, you will be shocked to learn that the number two spot belongs to Bosnia/Herzegovina, with 1621 deaths.</p>



<p>According to the <em>Times</em>, Vietnam had zero deaths-per-million, even though more than 30 people died in that Southeast Asian nation. ; Of course, every nation with a very small population had zero deaths-per-million. ; In fact, there are four nations – besides Vietnam – that have experienced deaths that – according to the <em>Times</em> methodology – had zero deaths-per-million. ; They are Mongolia, Taiwan, Tanzania and Burundi.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Despite the Times incomplete and flawed analysis, there IS a real difference in the death rates. </h4>



<p>The more advanced nations do appear to have more deaths-per-capita than the Asian and African nations.</p>



<p>One reason is that the numbers of some nations may be inaccurate – intentionally manipulated or merely due to inadequate counting procedures. ; A prime example is China. ; Only the Chinese leaders seem to believe their official three-deaths-per-million figure – and probably not even them. ; In some third-world nations, there is just no way of knowing what caused deaths in remote communities – or even an established means of counting them if they were Covid-19 deaths.</p>



<p>Experts also note that advanced nations have a large portion of the most vulnerable folks confined to nursing homes and senior facilities – where the virus can run rampant. ; The United States has seen many examples of outbreaks in such institutions. It is the basis of a <a href="https://punchingbagpost.com/governor-cuomo-manipulated-covid-data/">major scandal</a> involving Governor Andrew Cuomo and the tens-of-thousands of deaths in New York nursing homes.</p>



<p>Then there is another factor that even the <em>Times</em> notes – but does not calculate into their general analysis. Thanks to modern medicine, America has a HIGH population in the over-65 high-risk category – 16 percent of our population, in fact. ; For the European Union, that figure is 20 percent. ;</p>



<p>Not so in many third-world nations. ; They have younger populations – less likely to die from Covid-19 – because folks die off younger for a lot of other reasons. ; In Sub-Saharan Africa, the 65-plus population is only 3 percent – approximately one-fifth of the United States. ;</p>



<p>To understand just how the age of the population impacts on the death rate, you need to look at the peak American Covid-19 deaths by age, according to the official Center for Disease Control (CDC) statistics. ; </p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Here is the peak or highest level of weekly deaths according to the CDC. ; That is the PEAK week – not an average week.</h4>



<p><strong><u><strong><u>Years ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Deaths</u></strong></u></strong></p>



<p>1 to 4 ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; 2</p>



<p>4 to 14 ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; 5</p>



<p>15 to 24 ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; 29</p>



<p>25 to 34 ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; 135</p>



<p>35 to 44 ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; 347</p>



<p>45 to 54 ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; 1062</p>



<p>55 to 64 ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; 2706</p>



<p>65 to 74 ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; 5252</p>



<p>75 to 84 ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; 6876</p>



<p>85 plus ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; 7454</p>



<p>There are two significant observations to be made from the analysis of the peak death rates. ; The total deaths of ALL those below the high-risk age of 65-plus is 4286 – lower than any one of the three over-65 categories. ; And … the high-risk age group represents 82 percent of ALL the Covid-19 deaths. ; Another way to look at it is that 60 percent of those who died from Covid-19 had already exceeded the life expectancy of an American – roughly around 75 years. ; Me included.</p>



<p>America – and more advanced nations – have a much higher rate of old folks thanks to great medicine and healthy lifestyles. ; Couple that with congregating them in tight-knit communities and what do you get? ; ; Disproportionately, a lot more Covid-19 deaths. ; ;</p>



<p>We can all agree that most Americans have paid a very high price to save our most senior seniors. ; The big question we are grappling with as a nation is – was it not enough or was it too much? ; We are acting on that question every day – even as we pretend to avoid it.</p>



<p>As far as the <em>Times</em> analysis is concerned – figures do not lie, but liars do figure.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

New York Times Misrepresents Covid-19 Deaths
