This weekend, there was a great deal of social media discussion on a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) table that releases information on reported deaths that were or were presumed to be from the Wuhan coronavirus.
I would have shared with Legal Insurrection readers the tweet that got the discussion started, but the Masters of Twitter decided it did not meet their standards.
Therefore, I will begin by highlighting the source material for the discussion, the CDC’s Weekly Updates by Select Demographic and Geographic Characteristics – Provisional Death Counts for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Specifically, Table 3: Conditions contributing to deaths involving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), by age group, United States. Week ending 2/1/2020 to 8/22/2020.
The introduction to this table essentially summarizes the findings that 94% of the deaths by COVID-19 were also associated a potential fatal health condition (heart failure) or other significant co-morbidity factor (e.g., obesity). Therefore only 6% of the deaths reported for the virus are not connected with any other underling illness.
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 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death. The number of deaths with each condition or cause is shown for all deaths and by age groups.
The entire table is worth reviewing, for those who wish to have a better understanding of the realities of this pathogen. A portion is presented below, to offer a sense of the official data available on this subject.
And while it is tempting to say that the total number of coronavirus deaths is actually only 6% (or 9683) of the 161,392 being reported, the issue is much more complex than that.
To begin with, it doesn’t mean that the virus killed only about 9700 Americans. The data demonstrates that unless there is another underlying health condition, most people infected have very little chance of dying. This is especially true of young people who fall prey to the pathogen.
Yet, those people who had heart conditions, kidney problems, or other medical conditions who died might still be alive except that they were infected with COVID-19.
Since the inception of this pandemic, COVID-19 deaths have been lumped together into a category that included presumed deaths. What Table 3 means is that it is time to start combing through the number, determining what reality is, and conducting a serious and non-bureaucratic risk assessment. There is a proper balance that can be struck between protecting the vulnerable and returning to a normal life…and those who want to reopen the economy are not “grandma-killers” for wishing to do so.
Looking around the world, there are a few news tidbits that can place the real meaning of Table 3 into perspective.
Wuhan, the epicenter of this contagion, is reopening its schools:
As many as 2,842 educational institutions across the city are set to open their doors to almost 1.4 million students when the autumn semester gets underway, the local government announced on Friday. Wuhan University reopened on Monday….Schools have been ordered to stock up on disease control equipment and to carry out drills and training sessions to help prepare for new outbreaks. They must also restrict unnecessary mass gatherings, and submit daily reports to health authorities.Foreign students and teachers who have not received notice from their school will not be allowed to return, it said.
This news follows the reports on the big Wuhan pool party this summer. These stories, paired with Table 3 revelations, begs the question as to why several of our states should remain under onerous shutdown policies.
Americans aren’t the only one chaffing under the draconian restrictions, either.
Demonstrators in several European cities Saturday rallied against restrictions that have been imposed since the COVID-19 outbreak.Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Berlin to march against mask-wearing and social distancing rules. Police say they arrested about 300 protesters.In London, demonstrators in Trafalgar Square rallied against what they said is the “medical tyranny” that has been placed on them by masks and distancing.A few hundred protesters in Paris demonstrated against the capital’s mandatory mask-wearing mandate.
In conclusion: Table 3 does offer extremely valuable insight into the true health consequences of the Wuhan Coronavirus infections, but it should not be used to assert that the case fatality count is less than 10,000 in this country.
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