JimBowie1958
Old Fogey
- Sep 25, 2011
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Have 80k people died from the lockdowns?
279,700 extra deaths in the US so far in this pandemic year
Health statisticians keep careful tabs on how many people die every week. Based on what’s happened in past years, they know what to expect – but 2020 death counts are surging beyond predictions.
theconversation.com
It doesn’t take a sophisticated statistical model to see that the coronavirus pandemic is causing substantially more deaths than would have otherwise occurred. Mortality in 2020 is clearly different from the previous years’ regular patterns, with substantial increases and unusual trends.
The number of deaths the CDC officially attributed to COVID-19 in the United States was 200,499 through Oct. 3.
Some people who are skeptical about the impact of the coronavirus suggest these deaths would have occurred anyway, perhaps because COVID-19 is particularly deadly for the elderly. Others believe that, because the pandemic has changed life so drastically, the increase in COVID-19-related deaths is probably offset by decreases from other causes. But neither of these theories is true.
In fact, the number of excess deaths in the U.S. currently exceeds the number attributable to COVID-19 by at least 23,674 and likely up to 79,201. What’s behind those additional deaths is not yet clear. It could be that COVID-19 deaths are being undercounted, or the pandemic could also be causing an increasing number of deaths due to other causes. What we are starting to learn is that it is probably some of both.
A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that COVID-19 was documented as a cause of death in 67% of excess deaths between March and July in the U.S. But the researchers also identified increased mortality rates due to heart disease, as well as two spikes for deaths related to Alzheimer’s disease/dementia. Some people are delaying medical treatments for fear of getting infected with the coronavirus.
Another JAMA study found that the 2020 excess death rate is higher in the U.S. than in other countries hard-hit by COVID-19. That difference is likely the result of multiple factors, including inconsistent public health guidance, a decentralized and sometimes conflicting governmental response, and disruptions triggered by the pandemic.