![]() ![]() In 2000, over-65s accounted for approximately 1 in 8 people in both Europe and the U.S. ![]() In many countries, populations are getting older. The problem with counting excess deaths, though, is that it does not take into account changes in populations. So, a person looking for excess deaths in January 2022 might compare the deaths in that month with the January average for, say, the past 10 years. However, this approach has its own problems.Įxperts calculate the excess death rate by comparing figures for a given period with the average for that same period over several previous years. One way of avoiding this issue is to record excess deaths during the pandemic and attribute these to COVID-19, rather than looking at how many people had COVID-19 on their death certificate. So although we could say that all of these people died with COVID-19 and not of COVID-19, the disease almost certainly played a role in their deaths. In the U.S., at least 90% of such recorded deaths had COVID-19 as the underlying cause of death rather than a contributing cause. When doctors determine that COVID-19 is not the sole cause of death, they record other causes on the death certificate. president, Donald Trump, claiming on social media that the published figures were greatly exaggerating the severity of COVID-19. Similarly, in the U.S., CDC data showed that COVID-19 was the sole cause of only about 5% of listed COVID-19 deaths. Some people believe that this is the number that the government should publicize. This is the number of people for whom COVID-19 was the only recorded cause of death. is 17,000 - just over one-tenth of the official number. However, a video that people have widely shared on social media has stated that the true number of COVID-19 deaths in the U.K. COVID-19 death toll is now about 159,000. records any death that occurs within 28 days of a positive PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 as a COVID-19 death. attributes death to COVID-19 where this disease, or the coronavirus that causes it, appears as a cause or contributing cause of death on the death certificate. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a death from COVID-19 as “a death resulting from a clinically compatible illness in a probable or confirmed COVID-19 case, unless there is a clear alternative cause of death that cannot be related to COVID-19 disease, e.g., trauma.” And this is why some dispute the official figures. Whether the man died of COVID-19 or with COVID-19 is open to interpretation. “A physician must make a judgment of cause of death.” “Deaths are, to a degree, imprecise,” he said to MNT. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN, agreed that the actual cause of death can be hard to determine. Another might decide that COVID-19 was the primary cause as, without contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the man might have lived for a few more weeks with the other two conditions.ĭr. One doctor might record dementia as the primary cause, with CAD and COVID-19 as contributing factors. He contracts COVID-19 but has few symptoms. So, how many people have died of COVID-19, and how many have died with COVID-19?Ĭonsider the example of an 86-year-old man in a care home with late stage dementia and coronary artery disease (CAD). And most of those who die after contracting COVID-19 have one or more comorbidities. And therein lies the problem.ĬOVID-19 can lead to multiple problems - pneumonia, respiratory failure, blood clots, stroke, and heart attack - any of which might cause death. The doctor who records the death must note the primary cause of death and any contributing factors on the death certificate. In the United Kingdom, the guidelines on how to complete the medical certificate of cause of death run to several pages. Most countries record every death and its cause, providing a permanent legal record.
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