Sometimes the government must do things to protect its citizens even in situations where individuals might not think they’re interested in that protection, but which has a broader social effect such that it is beneficial to the polity at large.
Like seat belts in cars. In 1968 a federal law went into effect requiring that vehicles sold in the U.S be equipped with seat belts. Most states subsequently enacted primary enforcement laws that vehicles can be pulled over by law enforcement officers if it is observed that a driver or passenger is not wearing a seat belt. As one state slogan has it, “Click It or a Ticket.” There are 15 more states that have secondary enforcement, which means that if someone is pulled over for a moving violation and the officer observes that there is no seat belt use, that can be added to the infraction.
There is only one state that doesn’t have a seat belt enforcement law on the books: New Hampshire. As you probably know, New Hampshire’s state motto is “Live Free or Die.” On the subject of the death part, know that according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, seat belt use has cut fatalities in half. So perhaps some New Hampshirites like the odds of a flipped coin when they climb into their SUV and leave the belt unengaged.
According to “Mortality in the United States, 2020,” the leading causes of death in the U.S. and the number of people who have died as a result are:
Heart disease: 696,962
Cancer: 602,350
COVID-19: 350,831
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 200,955
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 160,264
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 152,657
Alzheimer’s disease: 134,242
Diabetes: 102,188
Influenza and pneumonia: 53,544
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 52,547
Yes, COVID-19, in 2020, went from nowhere (OK, China) to number-three.
Meanwhile, there are those who are protesting against government requirements for wearing a mask (which is certainly less constricting than, say, a seat belt) or getting a vaccination. The arguments on behalf of masking and vaxxing are that they not only protect the individual but also other people in the country.
But there are two groups of people who are suffering the most from what it seems the people who still somehow think COVID mitigation efforts are a bridge too far (who knew that there are so many snowflakes in the Republican Party?):
· Sick people
· The people who have to take care of sick people
Look at that list of causes of death. Remove the COVID number.
That leaves 2,155,709 people, all of whom needed medical attention.
Let’s not forget those who needed elective surgery. While the word “elective” might make some people think this is nothing more than things like breast enhancements, that is far from being the case for hundreds of thousands of people who are suffering from things that planned surgery will possibly alleviate.
According to a study published by the JAMA Network, which falls under the American Medical Association, in 2019 there were 905,444 procedures performed and in 2020, the first year of COVID, that number dropped by 48%. It isn’t because there were fewer people who needed surgery. There were just complicating factors.
Like the state of the health care industry.
Which brings me to the second category of people, the health care workers.
Morning Consult surveyed 1,005 U.S. health care workers between January 31 and February 11.
Of that cohort, 30% said they’ve been struggling with coping with the demands of their job over the past six months.
More startling — and sad because conditions would not be this bad had more citizens taken the steps necessary to reduce replication of the virus -- 49%, when asked how they felt about work during the pandemic, responded, “I’ve felt defeated by the demands.”
It didn’t — and doesn’t — have to be this way.
I just wonder how the strident anti-mask/vaxx people feel when they are attending funerals or find themselves having to be admitted to a hospital.
Shame is something I’d suggest.
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