I just read a Medscape item based on National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund’s 2022 End-of-Year Preliminary Law Enforcement Officers Fatalities Report. For the third consecutive year, more police officers have died of COVID than any other cause. At 70 deaths in 2022, COVID surpassed gunshot injuries as the leading cause of death. The latter accounted for 65 deaths.
It seems that law enforcement folks have seen vaccination as a political statement for much of the pandemic but not so wearing Kevlar vests. The former protects against a virus, and the latter against a bullet. Go figure.
The article did observe that the number of COVID deaths among law enforcement professionals does appear to be decreasing year over year. I suppose that if you get to see your workmates dying in the hospital over their political statements, you may rethink your own political statements. We really need to get over the ideological idiocy and make public health decisions based on science rather than political tribalism.
Yeah, I know. “Good luck with that.”
This week’s COVID update from Baylor College of Medicine’s President, Paul Klotman, addresses some of the issues behind the recurring waves of COVID variants. I’ve touched on most of these factors in prior COVID posts, but Dr. Klotman’s teaching style is more polished and effective than my own, I think.
I so look forward to a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine that will be effective against all extant and future strains. Something that would last a decade or more would be nice, but I’m not going to hold my breath. Sigh (releasing breath).