Lancet Report Shines Klieg Light on Health Harms of Trump Era
February 12, 2021 3:02 PM Subscribe
New report details devastating impact of the Trump administration's health-harming policies, calls for sweeping reforms; roughly 40% of the USA’s coronavirus deaths could have been prevented.
In new analyses, the Commission finds that 461,000 fewer Americans would have died in 2018 [*], and 40% of US deaths during 2020 from COVID-19 would have been averted if the USA had death rates equivalent to those of the other G7 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom). The report also estimates that Trump's rollbacks of environmental protections led to 22,000 excess deaths in 2019 alone.
Lancet Commission calls for immediate rollback of Trump's health-harming policies and additional sweeping reforms to reverse the deteriorating health of the US population: "The path away from Trump's politics of anger and despair cannot lead through past policies." (Lancet press release via Eureka Alert, Feb. 11, 2021)
This report by the Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era assesses the repercussions of President Donald Trump's health-related policies and examines the failures and social schisms that enabled his election. (The Lancet, Feb. 10, 2021)
Summaries:
Roughly 40% of the USA’s coronavirus deaths could have been prevented, new study says (USA Today, Feb. 11, 2021) About 40% of the nation’s coronavirus deaths could have been prevented if the United States’ average death rate matched other industrialized nations, a new Lancet Commission report has found. While the Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era faulted former President Donald Trump’s “inept and insufficient” response to COVID-19, its report said roots of the nation’s poor health outcomes are much deeper. The report found U.S. life expectancy began trailing other industrialized nations four decades ago. In 2018, two years before the pandemic, the report said 461,000 fewer Americans would have died if U.S. mortality rates matched other Group of Seven nations: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.
Trump administration policies cost hundreds of thousands of lives – even before Covid-19 hit: Systemic racism, poor healthcare access and entrenched neoliberal policy have contributed to decades of avoidable excess deaths (The Independent, Feb. 11, 2021; MSN) The commission’s diagnosis of the Trump years is extremely damning. Noting that some of the president’s largest winning margins in 2016 came in counties with the nation’s worst economic and mortality trends, the report finds that the president first exploited many non-wealthy white people’s anger over their deteriorating life chances and then enacted policies that benefited the wealthy – or as the authors call them, “an emboldened plutocracy”. Among the policies they point to are the Trump administration’s massive tax cuts, which “opened a budget hole that served as justification for cuts to food and housing subsidies that prevent malnutrition and homelessness for millions of people”. They also point to a 2.3 million surge in the number of uninsured people during Mr Trump’s presidency, as well as environmental policies already exposing many Americans to levels of harmful pollution unseen in decades.
Lancet commission examines Trump's COVID response (ABC, Feb. 12, 2021) About 40% of the United States' COVID-19 deaths could have been avoided, according to a new editorial from the Lancet Commission. The editorial cited certain Trump-era policies, which it says -- taken collectively -- may have exacerbated the pandemic death count. However, it may be impossible to know exactly how many deaths could have been avoided, considering the real-world complexities of such a calculation, according to Dr. John Brownstein, chief innovation officer for the Boston Children's Hospital, professor of epidemiology at the Harvard Medical School and an ABC News contributor, who was not associated with the report.
Lancet Report Shines Light on Health Harms of Trump Era A new report assesses the many negative repercussions of President Donald Trump’s policies on the health of people living in the United States and beyond while suggesting that the renewed energy of contemporary social movements may presage a more progressive future. (Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, Feb. 11 2021)
*The Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era, previously: 461,000 lives were unnecessarily lost in 2018 in the USA
COVID-19 previously on MetaFilter
In new analyses, the Commission finds that 461,000 fewer Americans would have died in 2018 [*], and 40% of US deaths during 2020 from COVID-19 would have been averted if the USA had death rates equivalent to those of the other G7 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom). The report also estimates that Trump's rollbacks of environmental protections led to 22,000 excess deaths in 2019 alone.
Lancet Commission calls for immediate rollback of Trump's health-harming policies and additional sweeping reforms to reverse the deteriorating health of the US population: "The path away from Trump's politics of anger and despair cannot lead through past policies." (Lancet press release via Eureka Alert, Feb. 11, 2021)
This report by the Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era assesses the repercussions of President Donald Trump's health-related policies and examines the failures and social schisms that enabled his election. (The Lancet, Feb. 10, 2021)
Summaries:
Roughly 40% of the USA’s coronavirus deaths could have been prevented, new study says (USA Today, Feb. 11, 2021) About 40% of the nation’s coronavirus deaths could have been prevented if the United States’ average death rate matched other industrialized nations, a new Lancet Commission report has found. While the Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era faulted former President Donald Trump’s “inept and insufficient” response to COVID-19, its report said roots of the nation’s poor health outcomes are much deeper. The report found U.S. life expectancy began trailing other industrialized nations four decades ago. In 2018, two years before the pandemic, the report said 461,000 fewer Americans would have died if U.S. mortality rates matched other Group of Seven nations: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.
Trump administration policies cost hundreds of thousands of lives – even before Covid-19 hit: Systemic racism, poor healthcare access and entrenched neoliberal policy have contributed to decades of avoidable excess deaths (The Independent, Feb. 11, 2021; MSN) The commission’s diagnosis of the Trump years is extremely damning. Noting that some of the president’s largest winning margins in 2016 came in counties with the nation’s worst economic and mortality trends, the report finds that the president first exploited many non-wealthy white people’s anger over their deteriorating life chances and then enacted policies that benefited the wealthy – or as the authors call them, “an emboldened plutocracy”. Among the policies they point to are the Trump administration’s massive tax cuts, which “opened a budget hole that served as justification for cuts to food and housing subsidies that prevent malnutrition and homelessness for millions of people”. They also point to a 2.3 million surge in the number of uninsured people during Mr Trump’s presidency, as well as environmental policies already exposing many Americans to levels of harmful pollution unseen in decades.
Lancet commission examines Trump's COVID response (ABC, Feb. 12, 2021) About 40% of the United States' COVID-19 deaths could have been avoided, according to a new editorial from the Lancet Commission. The editorial cited certain Trump-era policies, which it says -- taken collectively -- may have exacerbated the pandemic death count. However, it may be impossible to know exactly how many deaths could have been avoided, considering the real-world complexities of such a calculation, according to Dr. John Brownstein, chief innovation officer for the Boston Children's Hospital, professor of epidemiology at the Harvard Medical School and an ABC News contributor, who was not associated with the report.
Lancet Report Shines Light on Health Harms of Trump Era A new report assesses the many negative repercussions of President Donald Trump’s policies on the health of people living in the United States and beyond while suggesting that the renewed energy of contemporary social movements may presage a more progressive future. (Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, Feb. 11 2021)
*The Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era, previously: 461,000 lives were unnecessarily lost in 2018 in the USA
COVID-19 previously on MetaFilter
As suspected, Trump's own bout with COVID-19 was more serious than acknowledged last October (NYT; Yahoo 'reprint'), with lung infiltrates, blood oxygen levels dipping into the 80s, etc.; some officials thought Walter Reed would put him on a ventilator. While still at the White House, Trump was given an hour-long IV infusion of Regeneron (a monoclonal antibodies drug, the FDA granted an "emergency investigational new drug application" in the president's case, and, on Nov. 21, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization (EUA)). (A Regeneron dose intended for Melania Trump went unused, languishing in a fridge for months; it's unclear if the treatment was not recommended for her or if she refused.) Hi-lariously: In the weeks after his hospitalization, Trump was convinced that the Regeneron treatment had saved his life, telling aides, “I’m proof it works.”
That line became a running joke among top health officials, who would ask each other whether anyone was going to break it to Trump that he was in fact a failed clinical trial result for Regeneron, since the aim is to prevent people from being hospitalized after receiving it, one former senior administration official said.
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:28 PM on February 12, 2021 [18 favorites]
That line became a running joke among top health officials, who would ask each other whether anyone was going to break it to Trump that he was in fact a failed clinical trial result for Regeneron, since the aim is to prevent people from being hospitalized after receiving it, one former senior administration official said.
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:28 PM on February 12, 2021 [18 favorites]
In a just world, the only drug he would have been given would have been hydroxychloroquine.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 4:32 PM on February 12, 2021 [41 favorites]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 4:32 PM on February 12, 2021 [41 favorites]
In a just world, the only drug he would have been given would have been hydroxychloroquine.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll
He would have had his insides bleached too.
posted by Keith Talent at 5:10 PM on February 12, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll
He would have had his insides bleached too.
posted by Keith Talent at 5:10 PM on February 12, 2021 [6 favorites]
Some other contextual data:
Life expectancy at birth for OECD countries. The US is at about the 40th percentile.
Life expectancy by race in the US.
Life expectancy by income in the US
As the Lancet study notes, the US' decline in life expectancy improvement started in the Reagan era and has been compounded by other Republican political efforts. Part of their more general death cult ethos.
posted by Nelson at 5:42 PM on February 12, 2021 [20 favorites]
Life expectancy at birth for OECD countries. The US is at about the 40th percentile.
Life expectancy by race in the US.
Life expectancy by income in the US
As the Lancet study notes, the US' decline in life expectancy improvement started in the Reagan era and has been compounded by other Republican political efforts. Part of their more general death cult ethos.
posted by Nelson at 5:42 PM on February 12, 2021 [20 favorites]
Even the most half-assed, semi-competent covid response would have catapulted Trump to a second term. The magnitude of the administration's failure is incredible.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:15 PM on February 12, 2021 [17 favorites]
posted by Dip Flash at 6:15 PM on February 12, 2021 [17 favorites]
This means Trump killed more Americans than Imperial Japan in WWII.
posted by vorpal bunny at 9:49 PM on February 12, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by vorpal bunny at 9:49 PM on February 12, 2021 [4 favorites]
DIVOC-91 has excellent charts showing the progression of the pandemic across the world. What's interesting is that the US death per capita curve looks entirely unlike most of the other affluent world, who had whatever their initial spike was, then were flat through the summer and into November, when this second wave hit. In the US (and a few other countries, notably Mexico and Brazil), there isn't a plateau, only a less steep curve. About 20% of US deaths to date occurred in this May-November period, where deaths were much lower in most peer countries; if this hadn't happened in the US, then the US death rate would almost exactly match the EU's as a whole.
To date, 475,000 people have died of covid in the US.
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as France: 78,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as Virginia: 207,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as Germany: 221,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as Washington St: 275,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as Canada: 293,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as British Columbia, Canada: 393,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as Japan: 457,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as Australia: 464,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as South Korea: 466,000
(Additional lives lost if the US had the same death rate as the United Kingdom: 98,500)
posted by Superilla at 12:03 AM on February 13, 2021 [18 favorites]
To date, 475,000 people have died of covid in the US.
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as France: 78,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as Virginia: 207,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as Germany: 221,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as Washington St: 275,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as Canada: 293,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as British Columbia, Canada: 393,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as Japan: 457,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as Australia: 464,000
Lives saved if the US had the same death rate as South Korea: 466,000
(Additional lives lost if the US had the same death rate as the United Kingdom: 98,500)
posted by Superilla at 12:03 AM on February 13, 2021 [18 favorites]
.
posted by limeonaire at 1:32 PM on February 13, 2021
posted by limeonaire at 1:32 PM on February 13, 2021
Trump could have saved thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of lives had he simply advocated for masks instead of turning not wearing them into a stupid political statement.
posted by azpenguin at 8:28 PM on February 13, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 8:28 PM on February 13, 2021 [5 favorites]
Trump could have saved thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of lives had he simply advocated for masks instead of turning not wearing them into a stupid political statement.It’s scary to think how easily he could have won re-election: instead of shutting down the USPS plan to distribute masks, carpet the country with “Keeping America Safe” masks; instead of deciding now was the time for austerity, take half to a full GOP tax plan’s worth of debt on a big small business / laid off worker bailout. Things still would have gotten bad, as we’re seeing elsewhere, but we wouldn’t be competing with the UK for the position of global cautionary example.
posted by adamsc at 8:53 PM on February 13, 2021 [6 favorites]
It’s scary to think how easily he could have won re-election: instead of shutting down the USPS plan to distribute masks, carpet the country with “Keeping America Safe” masks; instead of deciding now was the time for austerity, take half to a full GOP tax plan’s worth of debt on a big small business / laid off worker bailout. Things still would have gotten bad, as we’re seeing elsewhere, but we wouldn’t be competing with the UK for the position of global cautionary example.
I really think that if they had done just three things (not necessarily done them well, just with a big show of effort and lots of publicity) they would have coasted to a win: Vaccine development (they did this); use the Defense Production Act to make PPE for hospitals; and have a federally-coordinated vaccine injection plan, probably big vaccine centers staffed by the military.
I don't even think those would have changed the death toll much, especially if done poorly (which they would have been, given the overall incompetence and corruption). But each one would have sent a major message of the administration being in control and taking steps to respond, and would have removed the Democrat's core message of "elect us, we will actually do something."
posted by Dip Flash at 7:30 AM on February 14, 2021 [3 favorites]
I really think that if they had done just three things (not necessarily done them well, just with a big show of effort and lots of publicity) they would have coasted to a win: Vaccine development (they did this); use the Defense Production Act to make PPE for hospitals; and have a federally-coordinated vaccine injection plan, probably big vaccine centers staffed by the military.
I don't even think those would have changed the death toll much, especially if done poorly (which they would have been, given the overall incompetence and corruption). But each one would have sent a major message of the administration being in control and taking steps to respond, and would have removed the Democrat's core message of "elect us, we will actually do something."
posted by Dip Flash at 7:30 AM on February 14, 2021 [3 favorites]
I don't think we ever did hear a resolution to the apparent shenanigans going on with the Federal government confiscating States' deliveries of PPE.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:23 AM on February 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:23 AM on February 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
Anthony Fauci exclusive interview: 'When I publicly disagreed with Trump he let terrible things happen' (The Telegraph, Feb. 19, 2021; Yahoo News)
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:54 PM on February 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:54 PM on February 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
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