The pandemic is not over, but some things are changing. Fewer people are dying in hospitals and more are dying at home or in hospice or nursing home care. Fewer people are getting severe COVID, and patients are less likely to be in an ICU or on a ventilator. The rates for both of those--ICU and ventilator--have dropped more than halfway since the Delta wave. People ages 65 and older are becoming a larger share of COVID deaths. This could be because younger people are more vaccinated; half of the people over the age of 65 who die have only gotten one booster. It could also be that older people have weaker immune systems, or are more likely to have worrisome preexisting conditions. The fact that people over the age of 80 are less likely to get Paxlovid than are people under the age of 65 contributes as well. Finally, while more men are still dying than women, disparities between racial and ethnic groups have narrowed.
In terms of deaths, most deaths list COVID as an underlying cause of death. It can also be a contributing cause of death if it places stress on some body system that is already in trouble, such as a comorbidity. COVID can also be incidental as when a person who has COVID dies from some unrelated trauma such as a car accident.
In terms of being someone age 66 and with a couple preexisting conditions, I have skipped all quilt guild functions since the show in April of this year, at which I wore a mask constantly. I was not the only one wearing a mask either. I recently saw photos of a guild workshop I might have enjoyed but did not attend. No one sitting closely around a large table was wearing a mask. Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean I won't get infected again, but I can at least do my best to lower the probability.
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