The holidays always bring more love, laughter, cheer, and peace for me, my family and friends. It has become increasingly more difficult because of all the fear mongering going on. I gave a message of hope last year by posting that things were not nearly as bad as everyone was led to believe. You can find that post here. Below is the graphic from that post. You can see that the death rate stayed on a similar trajectory it has been following since around 2009. 2020 would have had a similar number of people passing away, even without Covid-19.

Now let's see how we did during 2021. I found a similar database from the United Nations; only they count deaths per 1000. We see that the rate started to climb in 2009, just like the CDC graph from last year. However, the trend is still linear; we don't see a change in the upward slope. If the death rate were increasing, the slope of the blue line would be steeper toward the right, where 2020 and 2021 are. The lower graph shows the percent change from the previous year. Notice the percent of change is almost flat, but it is diminishing thankfully. We would expect the opposite if more deaths were occurring per 1000. So, once again, I bring tidings of comfort and joy that we are not dying in much greater numbers than usual. However, as you can see, the death rate was on the rise well before the pandemic, and there was no significant upswing in the number of deaths per 100,000 during 2020 or 2021. In 2014, one could have extrapolated the death rate for 2021.

The median age of death from Covid-19 in the US is 78 years of age, which corresponds precisely to the life expectancy for Americans. 1 People are passing away around the time we expect them to. But our life expectancy has been falling, corresponding to the rise in the death rate. Covid-19 is not the reason. The lifespan is decreasing because more young people and middle-aged people are dying. 

The Main Cause Of The Increase

The main culprit is drug overdose. In general, deaths from overdose have risen 386.5%. The most significant spike in drug deaths has been among those between 55 and 64 years old, from 2.3 deaths per 100,000 to 23.5 deaths per 100,000, which is an increase of 1000%. 2 

Why We Turn To Drugs

In this post, I talked about how crucial spiritual, emotional, financial, vocational, social, and intellectual well-being is to our health. Substance abusers frequently have co-occurring disorders like anxiety, depression, PTSD, and personality disorders. In addition, stress, loneliness, distorted or rigid world views, anti-social behavior, and isolation are experienced in varying degrees by drug abusers. 3 Of those who never had in-person interactions in 2018, half were in fair-to-poor overall health. Also, in 2018, 46% of those surveyed reported sometimes or constantly feeling alone, and 47% felt left out. Furthermore, 43% feel isolated from others and that their relationships are not meaningful. 4 Lastly, social media has increasingly infiltrated our lives. Studies show that it increases the risk for depression and feelings of inadequacy. These two underlying problems can lead to substance abuse. 5

More Good News: Omicron Is Much Less Severe Than The Original And Delta Variants

In South Africa, where the Omicron variant originated, only 1.7% of first wave COVID-19 cases were admitted to hospitals in the second week of infections. Their health minister said that the last wave of Delta saw a 19% hospitalization rate in the same week of its third wave. 6 Omicron cases skyrocketed initially, but the wave has broken already and cases are now way down there. Amazingly, hospitalizations plunged more than 90% in South Africa as the new, more contagious omicron variant crowded out delta. 7 Here in the US, Omicron is rapidly becoming the dominant variant. If we follow the pattern seen in South Africa and Denmark, we will see a rapid spread. The symptoms are similar to a standard cold. We should expect much lower hospitalizations and deaths, and it should disappear rapidly. The result should be widespread immunity. We may see Covid-19 recede into the background and become just another cold. I urge you to keep in mind that even common colds kill the sick and elderly, so we still need to protect them.

Which Is Worse, The Omicron Or The New Rules?

The mandates to avoid contact, isolate, cease going to work, wearing masks, etc., during the recent pandemic has worsened things. For example, the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics indicates an estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 12 months ending in April 2021, increasing 28.5% from the 78,056 deaths during the same period the year before. 8 Researchers at Brown University recently concluded that even in the absence of direct SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 illness, the environmental changes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic is significantly and negatively affecting infant and child development. For example, they estimate a 23% drop in intelligence and communication ability, both verbally and through subtle facial cues. 9,10 These children stand every chance of having poor health and living shorter lives.

Find Joy, Spread Cheer, And Be Strong

The bottom line is that as much as exercise and good nutrition are essential, our physical health depends more upon our intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, vocational, and financial health. We all must take care of our own needs before we can take care of others. That said, stay calm, be bold, and seek to be the person that makes others believe in the goodness of humanity. Loving and helping your fellow human beings rather than fearing, judging, and shunning them is the only way forward. Embrace values like trust, openness, responsibility, solidarity, and love. Vaclav Havel, who lived through intense oppression, called for a genuine, profound, and lasting change for the better. He claimed that it would have to derive from human existence, from the fundamental reconstitution of the position of people in the world, their relationships to themselves and each other. So during the remainder of this holiday season, please try to go out of your way to reconnect with your family, friends, and community. Finally, skip the drugs. 9