Reuters Cheers You Up About Coronavirus By Listing 18 More Common Ways to Die

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Reuters attempted to cheer readers up on Friday by listing 18 ways they’re more likely to die than the coronavirus.

In an article, titled, “How we die: coronavirus in perspective,” Reuters explained that “while few would deny the outbreak’s official status as an international health emergency, in the ranking of top causes of death it pales into insignificance compared to heart disease, cancer, road accidents, suicide or homicide.”

According to Reuters, cardiovascular diseases are the deadliest of the bunch, responsible for 17.8 million deaths in 2017.

In second place, cancer with 9.6 million deaths, and in third, respiratory diseases and infections with 6.5 million.

“Dementia, digestive disease and diabetes all take heavy tolls. And despite recent progress, HIV/AIDS claimed some 942,000 lives in 2017 and malaria 620,000,” Reuters continued, noting that “Seasonal influenza epidemics kill between 290,000 and 650,000 people a year.”

Then there’s high blood pressure (10.4 million), smoking (7.1 million), high blood sugar (6.53 million), air pollution (4.9 million), and obesity (4.7 million), with “road injuries” killing 1.24 million.

“Close to 800,000 people die due to suicide every year, or one person every 40 seconds,” the article explained, and around “464,000 people across the world were killed in homicides in 2017, surpassing by far the 89,000 killed in armed conflicts in the same period.”

In contrast, there have been just 14 deaths so far from the coronavirus in the United States. To paraphrase Monty Python, always look on the bright side of death.