A new report from The Lancet — one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious medical journals — finds that 40 percent of the United States’ COVID deaths could have been averted. The report notes that even before the pandemic, the U.S. had a much higher mortality rate than other wealthy peer nations, such as those in the G7. If the U.S. had a preexisting death rate comparable to these other nations and Trump hadn’t “publicly dismissed its threat…discouraged action as infection spread, and eschewed international cooperation” throughout the pandemic, then the U.S. would have seen 40 percent fewer deaths last year.
Of course, Trump is not responsible for the country’s already high mortality rate. The report notes that factors like climate change, deregulation, egregious health care costs, lack of health insurance, economic inequality, and systemic racism all contribute to the United States’ higher mortality rate — factors that have been worsening for decades under both Republican and Democratic leaders. It’s not enough to address the health and economic problems wrought by the pandemic. We need a systemic overhaul.
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