500,000 dead in US

AP reports:

The COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. topped 500,000 Monday, a staggering number that all but matches the number of Americans killed in World War II, Korea and Vietnam combined.

President Joe Biden held a sunset moment of silence and a candle-lighting ceremony at the White House and ordered American flags lowered at federal buildings for the next five days.

“We have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow,” Biden said. “We have to resist viewing each life as a statistic or a blur.”

I can’t comprehend how people sneer at these numbers, claiming (falsely) that everyone who had died was soon going to die anyway etc etc. They ignore the huge personal suffering premature deaths inflict on families. Yes having someone die in their 30s is more tragic than in their 70s, but it is still a huge personal loss.

The latest data from the US is that the excess mortality in the US was 500,000 just from March to December 2020, while official Covid-19 deaths were 340,000. So excess deaths are running around 50% higher than the official death toll.