An important part of the human cost of the Covid-19 pandemic is the loss of life and health not due directly to Covid cases, but to the disruptions it causes. American hospitals have long worried about the decline in ER visits from cardiac patients, and drops in cancer diagnoses. Presumably, those health problems haven't suddenly gotten better. It's just that people aren't seeking (or are seeking but not getting) care for them. So too, childhood vaccination rates are in decline globally, especially in developing countries, though evidence from Michigan suggests that is happening here in the U.S. too.
And then there's the situation for places dealing with TB, HIV/AIDS and malaria. Per the New York Times:
"According to one estimate, a three-month lockdown across different parts of the world and a gradual return to normal over 10 months could result in an additional 6.3 million cases of tuberculosis and 1.4 million deaths from it. A six-month disruption of antiretroviral therapy may lead to more than 500,000 additional deaths from illnesses related to H.I.V., according to the W.H.O. Another model by the W.H.O. predicted that in the worst-case scenario, deaths from malaria could double to 770,000 per year. Several public health experts, some close to tears, warned that if the current trends continue, the coronavirus is likely to set back years, perhaps decades, of painstaking progress against TB, H.I.V. and malaria."
In the meantime, as of now, nearly 700,000 people have officially died of Covid.
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