The Role of Demographics in Generating the 'Pandemic'

Bye bye boomer…

Boomers are getting old: From 2010 to 2020 the US experienced an unprecedented spike in 65-79 year olds (Graphs 1 and 2).

Graph 1: These numbers are calculated from raw data taken from Our Changing Population: US. USA Facts. https://usafacts.org/data/topics/people-society/population-and-demographics/our-changing-population/?endDate=2021-01-01&startDate=2010-01-01

Graph 2: These numbers are calculated from raw data taken from Our Changing Population: US. USA Facts. https://usafacts.org/data/topics/people-society/population-and-demographics/our-changing-population/?endDate=2021-01-01&startDate=2010-01-01

Older populations have higher death rates, and as early as 2017 the US Census Bureau was already predicting a dramatic increase in overall deaths due to the critical mass of aging boomers (Graph 3).

Graph 3: Jason Devine. As Population Ages, U.S. Nears Historic Increase in Deaths. United States Census Bureau (October 24, 2017). https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2017/10/aging-boomers-deaths.html

The surplus of deaths attributed to this demographic transition in 2021 far exceeded excess deaths (Graph 4), and a very large portion of “COVID deaths” (light grey) overlap with the expected numbers of deaths (blue); 41% for ages 65-74 and 61% for ages 75-84.

So why were so many “COVID” deaths conflated with deaths from natural causes?

Graph 4: Excess deaths are calculated by multiplying the increase in death rate by the age group population recorded in 2021. Surplus or deficit deaths due to demographic changes are calculated by subtracting the excess deaths from total increase in deaths. Raw values are compiled on the following sources: Our Changing Population: US. USA Facts. https://usafacts.org/data/topics/people-society/population-and-demographics/our-changing-population/?endDate=2021-01-01&startDate=2010-01-01, Annual death rate by age group, United States. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-death-rate-by-age-group?time=2006, Annual deaths by age group, United States. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-deaths-by-age?time=2010&country=~USA, COVID Deaths by Year. The Global Statistics. https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/covid-deaths-by-year/

The CARES Act incentivized hospitals to inflate their numbers in order to maximize their revenue, and the surplus of deaths from natural causes made it easier to “cook the books” without raising suspicions. This is how demographics contributed to the “pandemic”.

But what about the excess deaths depicted in Graph 4? Did the opioids that killed some many young to middle aged adults during this this time also play a significant role in these deaths? I will discuss this in the next post.

Acknowledgements: This research is just a follow-up on Jonathan’s Couey many discussions on the role of demographics during his podcast Gigaohm Biological.