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One Million

Friends,

With the U.S. marking its one millionth covid death this week, I couldn’t help but notice this side of the world has way more than its fair share of the action. The Americas are home to about a billion people (12.7% of the world’s population) yet our hemisphere accounts for 40.5% of deaths. This means we have 3x more covid deaths per capita (3.75x in the U.S.) than the global average. So, what’s driving this disparity? If you look at historical mortality rates, both the global average and the U.S. are about even at 1.2%, so it's not the quality of care that's lacking. The culprit are infection rates. A quarter of Americans have tested positive, way ahead of the 6.6% global number. Bottom line, you’re way more likely to catch it if the Atlantic is to your East and the Pacific to your west. Granted, there may be testing and reporting disparities skewing the data —and recovery rates have drastically improved. Still, food for thought on this grim milestone. Speaking of food, I find having a donut while pondering these things takes the edge off.

Happy Friday!

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