There’s a popular tweet going around stating the CDC now reports 6% of COVID deaths are actually from COVID, and the rest could be blamed on other comorbid or preexisting issues.

Here’s four reasons why you don’t want to fall into believing this trap people.

A thread:

#1) As someone who has filled out multiple death certificates, you are required to list everything that could have potentially played a role in their death.

Have COVID and your heart stops from it: COVID and Heart failure or heart attack.

Have COVID and your lungs full with pus or fluid: COVID and respiratory failure or pneumonia.

Have COVID and you are overweight, a diabetic, hypertensive, have COPD or Alzheimer’s, etc...these things get listed.

Some of these are complications from the virus (see reason #2 below) some of these are actual comorbid conditions present from before the virus even came along.

The CDC has done the lay person no favor by lumping them together all in one table.

But that’s is how Docs fill out death certificates. List complications and comorbid conditions all together as contributing factors.

No wonder it is confusing and easy to manipulate the masses with this info. Makes for an exciting and eye-catching tweet for sure.

Remember: Having COVID listed as the sole cause of death would and should be quite rare as the virus presumably lead to other complications that led to their demise.

As I said above, if you are weakened from chronic conditions and die from COVID, it’s fair to list these too.

#2) Notice how the numbers on that Table 3 from the CDC list thousands upon thousands with respiratory and cardiac ‘co-morbidities’ at the time of death. Where do you think these come from?

COVID causes ARDS, respiratory failure, respiratory arrest, heart failure, etc.

It principally does it’s killing by attacking and destroying the lung and heart tissue.

You don’t just die from a virus alone. The virus infects your cells, commandeers its machinery and makes those cells do its bidding. In COVID’s case... the cardiopulmonary systems.

#3) It actually surprises me that that only 6% of death certificates listed COVID alone.

That is much higher than I would think. Why?

It suggests that 6%/9K deaths had no other possible cause to list.

It’s probably more likely, that many of those 9k certificates could have been filled out by Docs who only had time/energy to list COVID, especially if they were filling out several a shift.

For example: At its peak in April/May - 800 people were dying per day with 18k new hospitalizations in NY, 90% were in/around NYC hospitals. Between rounding, donning and doffing PPE, managing vents, writing daily notes, etc, death certificates may only list the bare essentials.

#4)If that seems implausible to you, then look at that same CDC page under table 1, ~14K Americans total have died under age 55, presumably a fair number of those were 100% healthy - not obese, no HTN, COPD, or diabetes, etc.

9k of those 14k actually seems a tad for that even.

Regardless, there are fallacies all around. Conspiracies are welcomed when there is unsurity. Use judgement and wisdom, especially when evaluating claims that seem too good (or bad) to be true.

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