CORONA MYOPIA #34: 9/26/2021, I CAN'T BELIEVE I WASTED MY TIME ON THIS!

Introduction

I will blame this waste of time article on the “Wise Golden Original Potato Chips” that I acquired, while working at the “Hadean Realm” on 9/24/2021. Yesterday, after hauling trash, I decided to eat that little bag of stale potato chips. That was not smart! Last week, while working at home, I had a rare craving for potato chips. (It's the Irish in me.)

Side note: since 2/1/2021, I have been doing the same job, working at home Monday through Wednesday but at the “Hadean Realm” office on Thursdays and Fridays. The “thermostat gods” at the office can't figure out how to not make the setting either too hot or too cold. I endure. I control the thermostat at my home office.

The bag of chips was from the TCRS (Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System). TCRS tries a few cheap and superficial ways to market itself to state employees. The chips were in a TCRS plastic bowl of junk food that had been on the kitchen area table for a few weeks. All the junk food was gone, except the bag of chips. I brought the bag home. My mistake was to eat those stale potato chips. I won't do that again!

So, instead of getting my first hike of the season on House Mountain this afternoon, I stayed near the porcelain throne, to write this article.

The Numbers (If Credible)

(1) The CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7014e1.htm). My emphases and/or comments are in green. The other details are from the CDC website.

The CDC Director is Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH. Her face and voice are in the various news media.

TABLE. Provisional* number and rate of total deaths and COVID-19–related deaths, by demographic characteristics — National Vital Statistics System, United States, 2020

No. (rate)^†

Total deaths 3,358,814

COVID-19 deaths^§ 377,883 (11.25%)

* National Vital Statistics System provisional data are incomplete. Data from December are less complete due to reporting lags. These data exclude deaths that occurred in the United States among residents of U.S. territories and foreign countries.

† Deaths per 100,000 standard population. Age-adjusted death rates are provided by sex and race/ethnicity.

§ Deaths with confirmed or presumed COVID-19 as an underlying or contributing cause of death, with International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision code U07.1.

FIGURE 2. Provisional* number of leading underlying causes of death† — National Vital Statistics System, United States, 2020

* National Vital Statistics System provisional data are incomplete. Data from December are less complete due to reporting lags. Deaths that occurred in the United States among residents of U.S. territories and foreign countries were excluded.

† Deaths for which COVID-19 was a contributing, but not the underlying, cause of death are not included in this figure. (The yellow is from the CDC website.)

Citation: Ahmad FB, Cisewski JA, Miniño A, Anderson RN. Provisional Mortality Data — United States, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:519–522. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7014e1external icon Page last reviewed June 17, 2021.

(2) JAMA Network Viewpoint

(https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2778234).

March 31, 2021

The Leading Causes of Death in the US for 2020

Farida B. Ahmad, MPH1; Robert N. Anderson, PhD2

Table. Number of Deaths for Leading Causes of Death, US, 2015-2020^a

USSA total deaths: 3,358,814 (same as the CDC)

20.569% USSA deaths by heart disease: 690,882 (CDC doesn't include)

17.831% USSA deaths by cancer: 598,932 (CDC doesn't include)

10.281% USSA deaths by COVID-19: 345,323 (lower than 377,883 CDC states)

Conclusion

Do you see what eating a stale bag of potato chips did to this Irish American? I would have rather been hiking this afternoon!

The various media sources are rife with “breaking news” about the various mask-on-or-off wars (especially in Knox County recently) and about the vaccine-or-not wars. Other news includes the lack of USSA southern border security, the spending of Monopoly money, the inflated (and shrinking) value of Monopoly money, and so forth.

At least my Georgia Bulldogs won an easy game against a junior college SEC team yesterday! I regret that my TN “Vowels” readers had to endure an almost “double stomp” by the Florida Gators. To my friend, JC, I close with this comment: JC, please explain to my readers what a “stomp” and a “double stomp” are! My readers would like to know – well, maybe.

I can see the clear blue sky, as I conclude. Be wise; don't eat stale Wise Potato Chips – ever! Also, be wise – by standing as free people in a once-free and great nation! I will continue to do so. I hope that my next article will be about my House Mountain hike #179 (#43 bionic).