- My wife, stage 4 MM and 65 is still refused shot even though her Oncologist ordered it.
- I am 56, in remission, Stem cell transplant recipient, and am still on treatment, and have been writing to my state, Oregon, for the past few months begging that they prioritize people with serious underlying medical conditions regardless of age.
- I am a patient with a rare incurable cancer and cannot receive treatment without being vaccinated and @SecMandyCohen is refusing me. If I die it’s on your hands
- New York Times article “In the Vaccine Scramble, Cancer Patients Are Left Behind” CLICK HERE
- USA Today article It's a scary time': Cancer patients are frustrated at states making them wait for the COVID-19 vaccine despite federal guidelines CLICK HERE
A good start is to see who are those that are dying? Two graphs I have found useful are one which shows the death rate by age and the other showing the death rate based on whether you are healthy or have a preexisting condition when you come down with a COVID19 infection.
The current death rate is 1.51 deaths per thousand US residents. So how do the subsets of patients compare to this baseline? Several potential high risk groups have been identified, including health care workers, older Americans, people with preexisting conditions, older citizens with preexisting condition, first responders, teachers, and critical workers like grocery workers. I will list them by deaths per thousand and how it compares to baseline.
Baseline All USA residents - 1.51 deaths/1000
Residents over 65 - 7.32 deaths/1000 or 4.8 times the baseline
Residents with preexisting condition - 4.75 deaths/1000 or 3.1 times the baseline
Over 65 with preexisting conditions - Likely much greater than 7.32
All residents under 65 - .38 deaths/1000 or 1/3 of the baseline
Teachers(estimate below baseline) - Between .38 and 1.51 deaths/1000
All active cancer patients - 12.81 deaths/1000 or 8.5 times the baseline
Health Care Workers (2900 deaths) - .15 deaths/1000 or 1/10 of the baseline
Transplant and Myeloma patients - 15.10 deaths/1000 or 10 times the baseline
Assisted Living Residents and staff - 51.60 deaths/1000 or 34 times the baseline
Prison Inmates (possible high risk) - 1.06 deaths/1000 or 7/10 of the baseline
I was surprised by two of these. Health Care Workers deaths numbered 2900 and the total employment is 19.6 million so the number is accurate, but why? They see the devastation and know the risk so are ultra safe and use PPE properly. Also there are few in the over 65 category. In addition many hospitals have a Covid specific wing which limited the number potentially exposed!
The second surprise was the very high death rate at assisted living facilities. I would have thought it was closer to the death rate of seniors over 85 or 5 times the baseline or average. These facilities must be like little Petri dishes for transmission!
We are at the beginning of the vaccination program, but there is still time to change and improve the system. If we eliminate deaths we take the burden off of our critical Heath care workers. We must focus on assisted living facilities, cancer patients and people over 19 with preexisting conditions, then citizens over 50 without preexisting conditions, the remaining. Once this is done at least 95% of deaths would be eliminated, then all others. Please follow the facts and science, it will save LIFE!
Please let your senators and representatives know if you are having problems getting vaccinated by finding their representatives by CLICKING HERE, and letting them know your concern and attach this post as support information.
Good luck and may God bless your journey through this pandemic!