After days of searching the CDC's massive website, I finally found the information that enables the calculation of U.S. COVID-19 death percentages by age group, and those percentages prove that our one-size-fits-all extreme measures are not necessary. Here are the percentages as of this morning, April 7. These percentages are based on the numbers of deaths that have been formally documented with death certificates and received by the CDC.
AGE GROUP---PERCENTAGE OF COVID-19 DEATHS
00-24 --- 0.09%
25-34 --- 0.68%
35-44 --- 2.58%
45-54 --- 5.90%
55-64 --- 11.80%
65-74 --- 23.30%
75-84 --- 28.05%
85+ ---- 27.74%
Notice that 79.1% of U.S. COVID-19 deaths have occurred among people aged 65 and above. Notice that the percentage of total deaths more than doubles at age 65. Conversely, far below 1% of our COVID-19 deaths have occurred among people aged 24 and below. How far below 1%? 0.09% is 11 times lower than 1%, or 11 times lower than 1 out of 100.
Fewer than 4% of our COVID-19 deaths have occurred among people aged 34 and below. Fewer than 9% of our COVID-19 deaths have occurred among people aged 54 and below.
For added perspective, per the CDC data, in the U.S., the number of people killed by pneumonia, as of this morning, is 2.4 times higher than the number of people who have been killed by COVID-19. 27,131 people have died from pneumonia, while 11,008 people have died from COVID-19.
These facts make it all the more apparent that we could achieve herd immunity while keeping the number of deaths to a tolerable minimum with less extreme measures.
AGE GROUP---PERCENTAGE OF COVID-19 DEATHS
00-24 --- 0.09%
25-34 --- 0.68%
35-44 --- 2.58%
45-54 --- 5.90%
55-64 --- 11.80%
65-74 --- 23.30%
75-84 --- 28.05%
85+ ---- 27.74%
Notice that 79.1% of U.S. COVID-19 deaths have occurred among people aged 65 and above. Notice that the percentage of total deaths more than doubles at age 65. Conversely, far below 1% of our COVID-19 deaths have occurred among people aged 24 and below. How far below 1%? 0.09% is 11 times lower than 1%, or 11 times lower than 1 out of 100.
Fewer than 4% of our COVID-19 deaths have occurred among people aged 34 and below. Fewer than 9% of our COVID-19 deaths have occurred among people aged 54 and below.
For added perspective, per the CDC data, in the U.S., the number of people killed by pneumonia, as of this morning, is 2.4 times higher than the number of people who have been killed by COVID-19. 27,131 people have died from pneumonia, while 11,008 people have died from COVID-19.
These facts make it all the more apparent that we could achieve herd immunity while keeping the number of deaths to a tolerable minimum with less extreme measures.
Provisional Death Counts for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
National Center for Health Statistics
www.cdc.gov