Bloomberg: “…according to a study of global mortality rates that shows the U.S. pandemic response left citizens exposed to the lethal disease. Early in the outbreak, the U.S. mortality rate from Covid-19 was lower than in many other hard-hit countries, including the U.K., Spain and the Netherlands, according to the report Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association [JAMA]. But as spring turned to summer, the U.S. largely failed to embrace public-health and policy measures that have helped other countries reduce death rates. If U.S. deaths after May 10 had occurred at the same pace as in Spain, the U.S. mortality rate would be 47% lower, with 93,247 fewer people dying, the report found. More than 100,000 fewer Americans would have died if the U.S. had the same mortality rate as the Netherlands. Sweden’s mortality rate was 22% lower, though it took fewer steps to curb the virus’s spread. The U.S. leads the world in total coronavirus deaths, with 214,776 as of Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Brazil ranks second with 150,488 deaths.

America’s failure to control the outbreak is forecast to be costly. When lost output and health setbacks are taken into account, the economic toll of the pandemic is expected to exceed $16 trillion, or about 90% of U.S. annual gross domestic product, according to a separate report in JAMA on Monday [Excess Deaths From COVID-19 and Other Causes, March-July 2020]. Other ripple effects are also expected. On average, nine family members are affected by the loss of each person who dies of Covid-19 in the U.S., creating a pool of 2 million mourners, according to another article in JAMA by psychiatrists from NYU Grossman School of Medicine…”

• See also via JAMA – Mental Health Disorders Related to COVID-19–Related Deaths, Naomi M. Simon, MD, MSc; Glenn N. Saxe, MD; Charles R. Marmar, MD October 12, 2020.
• See also via JAMA – COVID-19 and Excess All-Cause Mortality in the US and 18 Comparison Countries, Alyssa Bilinski, MSc; Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD