There have been 193 deaths in Colorado attributed to COVID19 as of yesterday afternoon. That's a lot of pain, suffering and heartache for victims and their loved ones. But here are some data points that might help put the scale of this in context.
Each month in Colorado, on average,
652 people die from cancer
590 people die from heart disease
577 people die from influenza/pneumonia
253 people die in accidents of various kinds
I'm not sharing this to diminish COVID19 impacts on those who have become ill or died. But death happens, all the time, and at much greater rates than most of us imagine because we're normally not obsessing about it and keeping a running tally 24/7.
Maybe that should change. Maybe we need to post a scrolling tally of deaths, broken out by causes -- a National Death Clock, similar to the National Debt Clocks we occasionally see -- on massive billboards along our freeways or looming over Times Square, to remind us all that time is short, life is fleeting and fragile, every day matters and no one here gets out alive.
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