When the covid vaccines rolled out a few weeks ago, the state had arranged a schedule for recipients that started with medical personnel. That first phase -- Phase 1-A -- also included first-responders and nursing home patients. The idea of others being able to get a shot was that it would be several weeks before that happened.
But we are now at that point, and we all need to get ready to roll up our sleeves.
At his weekly press conference last week, Gov. Asa Hutchinson created a subset of the Phase 1-B category, allowing people 70 and over to start getting shots today, as well as teachers, school staff, child care and higher education workers. The rest of that second phase will soon follow, and then on we go to Phase 1-C.
Getting the vaccine is a personal choice, but we believe it is the right choice. Let's consider the enormous effect the covid-19 pandemic has had on the human race. Across the globe, more than 2 million people have died from this affliction. In the United States, we are very close to reaching the 400,000 mark for the number of deaths, with thousands dying every day. It's hard to wrap one's head around those big numbers, but some have likened the daily death rate to having 15 jetliners, filled with passengers, crashing every single day.
The coronavirus is overwhelming the medical system in many places across the country, to the point that in some places in California, ambulance workers have been told not to bring the very sick to the hospital because there are no beds. And now oxygen, which is necessary for some covid patients who are having trouble breathing, is in short supply in certain areas.
And what are the monetary losses? Can we put a number to the erosion of the quality of life and to the breathtaking heartache that a year of the pandemic has caused? There are no words to describe any of that.
The pandemic's numbers have gotten so bad that, in December, covid-19 was the leading cause of death in the United States. And new research from Princeton and the University of Southern California shows that the staggering number of deaths from covid has pushed the nation's life expectancy down, with a disproportionate impact on Black and Latino populations. Overall, the reduction in life-expectancy is about a year, but Blacks will suffer a loss of two years and Latinos, three, according to the research. It's the largest single-year drop in the rate in more than 40 years and the lowest life-expectancy rates in almost 20 years.
As the coronavirus has ravaged the country and world, the medical community has gotten better at treating it, but the tools are not close to being cures. And while in the early going the deaths seemed distant, they are much closer now. We are aware of a married couple that has now lost three of their four parents to covid. Again, heartbreaking but hardly unique.
Still, not everyone is on board with getting the vaccine. Many people say they aren't ready for it or don't want it for fear of what will happen to them. Even at Jefferson Regional Medical Center, officials said quite a few employees did not commit in the early going to getting it. Now, however, is the time to reconsider.
Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr. said last week he was hesitant to get the shot, but after doing some research -- and after considering the deaths of several people close to him -- he was going to get the vaccine. Other elected officials and higher-ups in the medical community have put themselves on display as they get their vaccines in order to say to the world: I am getting this shot, and you should, too!
We thank them for their leadership, and we should all follow their lead. No one is thrilled about taking an injection of any kind, but the vaccine that was created in an incredibly short period of time has shown itself to be incredibly effective in combating the coronavirus. Every time someone gets the vaccine, it is one more gut punch to the pandemic. Tomorrow is starting to look a lot brighter than today. We now have the tools to beat this thing. Let's start saving lives instead of seeing them vanish needlessly. Let's reclaim our destinies.
Individually, you won't feel a thing. Collectively, we will move this mountain out of our way. Do it for yourself. Do it for the world.