Study: 40% Of COVID-19 American Deaths Could’ve Been Prevented

(KYMA/KECY) - Over 40% of America's COVID-19 deaths could have been prevented, according to a new editorial by The Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health.

The report examines public policy and health during the Trump-era, it found that many people didn't take the pandemic seriously at the beginning.

Commission co-chair Dr. Steffie Woolhandler says public health measures such as mask-wearing and physical distancing could have saved lives.

But Woodhandler says former President Trump failed to create a national response, instead leaving crucial decisions to states.

But that was only part of the problems the report analyzed, the commission reports that America's poor health system also contributed to deaths as well as the effects of Trump's exploitation of deteriorating life prospects of low and middle-income white Americans.

The report claims 'Trump's use of racial animus and xenophobia' mobilized this particular population 'to support Trump's policies that benefit high-income people and corporations and threaten health'.

Life expectancy in the U.S. has been trailing other industrialized nations for decades, the report found that 461,000 fewer Americans would have died in 2018 if the U.S. mortality rates matched those in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the U.K.

The commission suggested several actions to fix the health problems, including adopting a single-payer health system like Medicare For All.