It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times

The CDC announced on August eleventh that you no longer need to quarantine if you come into contact with someone with the virus that shall not be named. They also dropped the social distancing guideline. Yay. But why? According to Margaret Menge, Lincoln National reported a 163% increase in death benefits paid out under its group life insurance policies in 2021. 1 Jefferey Jaxen of The Highwire says the five largest life insurance companies in the United States are also paying out much more life insurance benefits for 2021 than their average from the three years 2017 to 2019. 2 See the image below, courtesy of the Highwire.

Courtesy of The Highwire

More people are dying now than ever before, or at least in numbers similar to 2020 when you know what was happening. Boo.

I have scratched my head numerous times over the efforts to stop the spread because most of them were unsupported by any legitimate science. Once again, I am scratching my head. Are the high mortality numbers due to you know what? It seems not because Scott Davison, the CEO of OneAmerica, a $100 billion life insurance and retirement company headquartered in Indianapolis, says, We’re seeing right now the highest death rates among working age people. Those 18 to 64-years-old – are up 40 percent. We’ve ever seen in the history of this business. 2 This age group had the lowest mortality from the dreaded bug. 

So what is going on? We seemed consumed with the fear of death two years ago, but not now, when more people are dying. Is anyone interested in the reasons why? The significant changes we endured were stay-at-home orders, many of us being unable to work, social distancing, masks, and you know whats (first two, then three, then four) forced on many. 

Is it possible that all, some, or one of the measures backfired? We may never know. Is it something else? If so, why no interest? Why is the media silent? They seemed eager to barrage us with appalling death numbers just recently. 

I am on vacation as I write this, so I will keep it brief-I need to get back to the beach. However, I will dig deeper to see what the CDC reports for the leading causes of death in 2021.