Health experts in Sauk County are seeking public feedback as part of a survey to better identify issues for those who work, live and attend school around or within the county.
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Life expectancy in the U.S. decreased in the first six months of 2020, according to the CDC. Thats no surprise to experts who predicted a combination of COVID-19's physical, financial and mental impact would lead to something like this. According to the preliminary data, the number of years one can expect to live dropped by one year, from 78.8 years to 77.8 years.While that doesn't sound like a whole lot at a population level, this is a huge decline, said Robert Anderson with the CDC.In 2006, life expectancy across the board began to tick upward, but the number has never been equal between Black and White Americans. In 2020 that gap widened, with the life expectancy for Black men decreasing by three years. You've seen it in the way the vaccine access is rolled out. And now we're seeing it in the ultimate numbers, which is what it's doing to life expectancy for our populations, said Dr. Stella Safo. Dr. Stella Safo, a physician specializing in infectious diseases and HIV, says the disparity issue is centuries in the making. It's all about social determinants of health, which is just a fancy way to say how we live. And how we lived in this country is one that has been founded on different groups being treated very differently, said Safo. A new study from the University of California San Francisco suggests up to 30,000 of the excess deaths across the board were not directly linked to the COVID-19 virus but caused by unemployment. We see disproportionate impacts across a range of health outcomes, because they're all artifacts of the same longstanding unjust social structures, things like income inequality and structural racism and the unequal and unfair distribution of power and resources and opportunities, said Ellicott Matthay with the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics University of California, San Francisco. While the numbers and reasons are still becoming clearer, the societal toll of those excess deaths is almost immeasurable. Like Earnest and Anne Wilkins, who recently passed away from COVID-19 only a day apart. They were married 33 years. The data from the CDC was only from January to June of last year, early on in the pandemic. And some experts are looking for the lifespan numbers to rebound as the virus is contained and people are vaccinated. Amber Strong, Newsy, Northern Virginia.
GALLERY: Sauk County Public Health hosts COVID-19 testing site in Reedsburg
Jodie takes information
Sauk County Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Jodie Molitor takes information from a registrant at the Sauk County Public Health Department's free drive thru testing site at Reedsburg Area High School June 4. The health department partnered with the Wisconsin National Guard to conduct the site and administer COVID-19 tests to residents and non-residents of the county and was also open to those who didn't show symptoms of the virus.
Hannah
Wisconsin National Guard member Specialist Hannah Janvrin talks with a registrant about the COVID-19 testing process June 4 at the Sauk County Public Health Department's drive thru testing site at Reedsburg Area High School. Appointments at the site were open to those with or without symptoms of the coronavirus and also non-residents of Sauk County from Noon to 7 p.m. at the high school.
Amy
Sauk County Health Aide Amy Burdick shuffles through information forms at the public health department's free COVID-19 drive thru testing site June 4 at Reedsburg Area High School.
Carmelo guides traffic
Wisconsin Army National Guard member Specialist Carmelo Ramirez guides traffic June 4 at the Sauk County Public Health Department's COVID-19 drive thru testing site at Reedsburg Area High School. The site was open to those with or without symptoms of the coronavirus and also non-residents of Sauk County from Noon to 7 p.m. at the high school.
Tim Lawther
Sauk County Public Health Officer Tim Lawther, left, oversees the drive thru testing site at Reedsburg Area High School June 4. The health department partnered with the Wisconsin National Guard to run the site in Reedsburg.
Guard members wait for next car
Dressed in protective gear members of the Wisconsin National Guard wait for the next car in line to administer a COVID-19 test at a drive thru site held by the Sauk County Health Department and the Wisconsin National Guard June 4 at Reedsburg Area High School.
Jodie take information
Sauk County Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Jodie Molitor takes information from a registrant at the Sauk County Public Health Department's free drive thru testing site at Reedsburg Area High School June 4. The health department partnered with the Wisconsin National Guard to conduct the site and administer COVID-19 tests to residents and non-residents of the county and was also open to those who didn't show symptoms of the virus.
Barb verifies information
Sauk County Public Health Nurse Barb Walsh verifies information with a registrant at Sauk County Public Health Department's free COVID-19 drive thru test site at Reedsburg Area High School.
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