6% of 285,000 is 17,100
"Table 3 shows the types of health conditions and contributing causes mentioned in conjunction with deaths involving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.9 additional conditions or causes per death."
Make of that what you will. Public health individuals are trained to accurately code medical conditions and treatments for tracking and insurance purposes. They've been doing it for decades and they're careful because they hate to deal with people like me on the phone when the insurance won't pay because they coded something wrong.
So the CDC says of 285,000 people "dead from COVID" only 6% were coded with ONE code: COVID. The other 94% had at least 3 additional codes for things like hypertension, sepsis, diabetes, Alzheimer's and malignant neoplasms. All of which take decades to develop.
So exactly how many have "died from COVID" and how many have "died with COVID onboard"?
Comments
That is an interesting report but it is only part of the overall picture and can be misleading if taken alone. While I believe the whole Covid thing has been overblown there is a lot to consider. A few things would be;
The estimates for U.S. citizens with pre-existing conditions ranges from 50 - 135 million people. That's a pretty large group.
How many of the people with pre-existing conditions that died with covid would have lived for another 5 or 10 or more years if not for the virus. Diabetes for instance can be controlled by most and in itself is not a death sentence. Add Covid and it changes the equation.
The CDC has charted several hundred thousand excess deaths in 2020. A lot of these, but not all, have been the most vulnerable with those pre-existing conditions. Will next years chart of deaths show an equal drop in deaths due to the most vulnerable dying now from Covid complications instead of next year from their pre-existing conditions?
How many deaths and long term health problems have been caused by the lockdowns? Weight gains, extra alcohol abuse, more drug abuse and depression are all categories that have increased in the last year. What will be the long term health effects from those and was the lockdown worth it if those things are factored in? That is something that will probably be argued about for years.
I have been trying to avoid having one set of facts influence my opinion about covid but every time I think I have considered most factors, another one comes along. I know just enough to question what little I do know and may never learn enough to understand the overall picture. It is hard to not put all my faith in reports and conclusions others have reached just because they agree with my biases and wishful thinking, but I am working on it. Bob
We will not know for a few years, Bob. After we return to whatever our rulers tell us is the new normal for a couple of years, we will be able to see the 2020/2021 blip and evaluate it compared to the inevitable drop in deaths. In five years there will not be a statistically significant demographic change in the US population. This was not the case in 1918/1919, though I believe the historical comparison will be lost on most.
Brad Steele
I guess in my own somewhat awkward way that is what I getting at. For instance the deaths attributed to the 1918 flu pandemic were estimated to be 675,000 in the U.S. That is with a population that was less than a third of what it is now. Some would look at those figures and say the flu then was more deadly than the current Covid19. Others would look at those numbers and say that now medical knowledge has advanced so much that it prevented that many deaths from Covid. Others would argue that the lockdowns and mask wearing had an effect on keeping the casualties down. In truth there are probably a lot of factors and unless one considers them all, the conclusions one draws are skewed. Bob
Another factor to consider is that many including myself have avoided seeing doctors and medical professionals all through this year. An over the phone conversation does not cover much for an annual physical. But that was my check up and pretty sure includes many others.
My avoidance was not of my choosing, but how my Dr. is running his show.
PRE-EXISTING CONDITION
I am tired of hearing that used as an excuse.
If a person has a pre-existing condition they are most likely taking a prescribed medication for it.
If they read the info sheet that comes with the medication they will see a common side effect is....wait for it....
LOWERED IMMUNITY! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ergo...(is that really a word?) The pre-existing condition may be what a patient died from, complicated by the Covid, but they caught the Covid BECAUSE OF THE MEDICATION THEY WERE TAKING FOR THE PRE-EXISTING CONDITION!
Thank you, medical industry.
Notice I did not call it the medical "profession" - there is nothing professional about those GQB's!
I gotta get a smaller soapbox, I get altitude sickness when I climb up on this one.
To your point, Bustedknee
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53576653#:~:text=More%20than%20half%20the%20residents,be%20exposed%20to%20the%20infection.
From the link:
"The high prevalence rate in the Mumbai slums could partly be explained by the fact that residents share common facilities such as toilets.
"The results showed how crowding plays a key role in the spread of the infection," Dr Juneja said.
The study also found that a large section of people had been infected and survived with no or little symptoms, leading to a low fatality rate in these areas - one in 1,000 to one in 2,000. This also lowers the city-wide death rate from Covid-19.
And more women were found to have been exposed to infection by the virus in both slum and non-slum areas.
"This is very interesting. We do not know the reason. It could be anything from social behaviour to underlying physiological differences," Dr Kolthur said.
With the cases slowing down in Mumbai, the survey also raises the question"
The slums of Mumbai are the hardest hit area with the lowest death rate among the infected. Their immune systems are tested every day of their lives. The US consists of many people who (while they believe they have no underlying conditions) have lead a life that shelters their immune system which weakens it. Hiding our children from every potential illness does this, and makes us, as a society, much less able to fight the virus. Usually when I bring this up, I am scoffed at, but logic tells me that a healthy person is not necessarily free of disease, rather has been exposed to sufficient threats over his life so that his system is robust enough to take on new threats.
Brad Steele
one of my first thoughts last year was, how are they gonna confine the homeless, they should have been dying in the streets, but if above article is correct guess they have a little immunity from the life they live....
I hear ya. It was time for my scheduled colonoscopy and I decided no WAY is that one going to be done over the phone.
Getting back to a groups immunity from various diseases, I read a story years ago about a man who made plans to move to India from the states.
He was doing some kind of missionary work and was going to be living in some of the worst of India's slum districts in a forgotten by me city. Before making the move he had done health studies of the areas local population and noted that they got their drinking water supply directly out of the river Ganges. Also noted that they mostly seemed unaffected health wise from drinking water that would make the average American quite sick with all sorts of various water born diseases.
Going further in to his research, he made careful notes of medical studies that mentioned the local populace was quite literally infected with various worms and parasites in their intestinal tracks. From this he concluded that the reason these people could live on such bad water was the fact that these worms and parasites were filtering out the bad substances from the water.
Before leaving on his trip to India he purposely ingested a list of various worms including tape, hook, and a couple others not remembered by me. Found that he too could exist healthily under these bad to us conditions.
Just some random thoughts this morning.
I agree, even with the small iPhone 5s in the drawer I’m not ready for that kind of telemedicine!