Sunday was a SIX Green Arrow Day.

Annual Accounting

Good Morning,

Sunday was a SIX Green Arrow Day; below are the particulars for the day.

One of our more astute readers, a trustworthy healthcare pioneer, and leader, sent us an article regarding the impact of COVID 19 and the overall death rate in the United States for 2020. The timing of that was uncanny because of what this newsletter is about to discuss.

We have continually preached that while it is crucial to tackling this virus, we need to have a national pandemic program to address any future and perhaps likely new ones. First, genuinely understand the impact on death rates, quality of life, and most importantly, the unfortunate collateral effects such as delayed medical treatments, suicides, and substance abuse.

For the past several years, the US has had about 1.6 million people housed in nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities, and about one-third of them pass away, around 10,000/week, 520,000/year. The leading cause of death in these situations has been Alzheimer’s. What will the statistics show for 2020? Keep in mind more than 40% of COVID deaths happen under these circumstances. Will there be a higher rate or number than in prior years? Will the virus displace Alzheimer’s?

The way death is categorized in our country is based on the last sickness, or put in simple terms, the straw or half straw that broke the camel’s back. For example, a young man in Florida was admitted for a drug overdose; while there was an attempt to save this fellow, he was also diagnosed with COVID. Would he have survived without COVID, perhaps, perhaps not?

The CDC has reported that 94% of COVID deaths have, on average, 2.6 comorbidity factors. The $64 million question is; how much the overall death rate has changed because of the virus? Notice that we used the term “death rate(s)” rather than a number because every year, the number is higher due to our larger population and a higher percentage of older people.

We are asking that this year’s overall death rates will be much different, or are we just wrestling with categorization classifications?

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!