We frequently see college students holding up their index finger to convince the media their team is #1, even if it’s a pipe dream. Being #1 often seems desirable. That is not the case when it comes to the top killer in the country. COVID-19 is now the leading cause of death in the United States. That is the conclusion of an article published in JAMA (Dec. 17, 2020).
What Does It Mean to Be the Top Killer?
15 Jetliners Crashing Day in and Day Out!
The authors of the JAMA study note that the daily death toll from the coronavirus is roughly equivalent to the number of people who died during the 9/11 attacks.
Here is how they describe this ongoing tragedy:
“The news media dutifully report each day’s increase in new cases and deaths, but putting these numbers in perspective may be difficult. The daily US mortality rate for COVID-19 deaths is equivalent to the September 11, 2001, attacks, which claimed 2,988 lives, occurring every 1.5 days, or 15 Airbus 320 jetliners, each carrying 150 passengers, crashing every day.”
If current trends continue, COVID deaths will exceed daily mortality rates for heart disease and cancer.
The authors note that:
“The prospect of a vaccine offers hope for 2021, but that solution will not come soon enough to avoid catastrophic increases in COVID-19–related hospitalizations and deaths.”
Why Do We Tune Out the Top Killer?
Psychologists have been studying human behavior for a very long time. There is a phenomenon called habituation. It allows us to tune out repetitive messages.
City dwellers get so used to hearing sirens that after a while they tune out the sound. Some people barely notice that there is an ambulance or police car going by.
When a plane crashes, it immediately captures headlines. But if a plane crashed every day, after awhile it would no longer seem that unusual.
When we first heard that 1,000 people died in the US from COVID-19 in a single day it caught our attention. When it became 2,000 a day, it made headlines for a few days. Now that we are hitting over 3,000 deaths a day, we are developing habituation.
The idea that more than 15 jetliners could crash in a single day without making headlines seems preposterous. And yet we have exceeded the equivalent of that every day this week. It no longer captures the headlines or our attention. We have become habituated to the top killer.
Heart Disease Is No Longer the Top Killer:
The article in JAMA puts all this into perspective:
“As occurred in the spring, COVID-19 has become the leading cause of death in the United States (daily mortality rates for heart disease and cancer, which for decades have been the 2 leading causes of death, are approximately 1700 and 1600 deaths per day, respectively). With COVID-19 mortality rates now exceeding these thresholds, this infectious disease has become deadlier than heart disease and cancer, and its lethality may increase further as transmission increases with holiday travel and gatherings and with the intensified indoor exposure that winter brings.”
How Do We Pay Attention to the Top Killer?
Habituation is a way to tune out noxious stimuli. After a while our brain begins to ignore unpleasant smells and sounds. I fear that too many Americans have become habituated to coronavirus deaths. As a result, many people have let down their guard.
The authors of the JAMA paper conclude their article:
“The failure of the public and its leaders to take adequate steps to prevent viral transmission has made the nation more vulnerable, allowing COVID-19 to become the leading cause of death in the United States, particularly among those aged 35 years or older. Much of this escalation was preventable, as is true for many deaths to come…The need for the entire population to take the disease seriously—notably to wear masks and maintain social distance—could not be more urgent.”
