Here is a COVID-19 statistic that we never hear about: COVID-19 deaths as a percentage of all deaths (deaths from all causes) by age group. This is an important statistic because recently some news outlets have claimed that COVID-19 is now a leading cause of death in the U.S. So it would be instructive and revealing to see what percentage of each age group’s total deaths are being caused by COVID-19. These percentages are based on the numbers in this morning’s CDC report on provisional deaths in the U.S.
If you find the percentages surprisingly low, or even shockingly low, perhaps this explains why they are not being discussed by CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, Vox, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Snopes, the Huffington Post, etc., etc.
AGE -------- COVID-19 DEATHS AS PERCENTAGE OF ALL DEATHS
00-14 ------- 0.08% (or 12.5 times lower than 1%)
15-24 ------- 0.38% (or 2.6 times lower than 1%)
25-34 ------- 1.58%
35-44 ------- 2.70%
45-54 ------- 3.83%
55-64 ------- 3.77%
65-74 ------- 4.17%
75-84 ------- 4.19%
85+ --------- 3.54%
If you check the CDC report, you’ll see that I rounded up in every single case, and that I even assumed a slightly higher number of deaths among ages 00-14 in calculating the percentage for that age group. Even with that inflated assumption, the percentage of deaths among ages 00-14 that have been caused by COVID-19 comes to only 0.08%, as of this morning. In other words, 99.92% of the deaths in this age group have resulted from other causes, not from COVID-19.
So is COVID-19 really "a leading cause of death" in the U.S.? It is not even one of the top five causes of death in the U.S., which are as follows:
160,000 --- chronic lower respiratory diseases
169,000 –-- accidents
250,000 --- medical errors
590,000 --- cancer
640,000 --- heart disease
In Sweden, which has followed a very moderate, targeted approach to dealing with COVID-19, the overall death rate is 0.02143% (2,192 deaths out of 10.23 million people). If you applied that percentage to the U.S. population, that would equal 70,290 deaths, not even close to matching the number of Americans who die from chronic lower respiratory diseases each year.
Here is an excellent briefing by two ER doctors on the case for ending the lockdown:
Here is the CDC report on provisional deaths in the U.S. from which the above percentages were derived:
Provisional Death Counts for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
National Center for Health Statisticswww.cdc.gov
Who even said it was “a leading cause of death”? That’s just a fake quote you pulled out of your ass to reaffirm your point.
Here are some key takeaways to how the virus compares to other causes of death however:
1) COVID-19 has only been killing people since early February so comparing yearly numbers of other causes really doesn’t make any sense.
2) The actual death count is estimated to be 50% higher than the reported number of deaths.
3) Hospitals are overwhelmed regardless of the kill rate of the virus. Part of the reason the death rate is as low as it is because people’s lives are saved at hospitals. To keep these institutions running, mitigating the spread is crucial.
Why was the USA not put on lockdown in 2018 when 80000 Americans died of the flu?
The death rate is much lower for the flu and those 80,000 deaths happened in the course of a year - not 3 months. Moreover, hospitalizations for the COVID is significantly longer and more life threatening which is a strain on resources.
Flu does not occur over a 12 month period
Very contagious is Covid bu also
very unlethal. Almost all of us have likely already experienced it as unknown to us or very mild. We’ve actually already passed the point that quarantine is necessary or effective
Granted it isn’t over a 12 month period, but the death rate is still lower and as of now the death count for COVID is still rising rapidly.
Actually the death count as expressed as a percent is dropping by the hour as more people are tested who had the disease that were not made sick at all are found
There’s also the people who never got tested to begin with because of how far behind the testing is. The death rate might go down A bit when it is all said and done, but down to .1% which is the flu? No way. Not even close.