>How can we blame a >1% decrease in life expectancy on a disease which according to the CDC (for under 70's) has a <0.5% infection fatality rate? Your question

>How can we blame a >1% decrease in life expectancy on a disease which according to the CDC (for under 70's) has a <0.5% infection fatality rate? Your question, as you phrased it, is nonsense, because those are wildly different units. Therefore, comparing 0.5% of one unit to 1% of another unit is meaningless. Life expectancy is measured in years. Infection fatality rate is measured in deaths per case.