Quote (Black XistenZ @ Apr 22 2020 07:22pm)
It cuts both ways - most countries label every death of a coronavirus-positive person as caused by coronavirus, while covid-19 doesnt need to have been the leading cause of death, particularly considering the high age and bad general health status of the average corona casualties. So this effect leads to a slight overestimation of the actual death toll of the virus, while the underreporting from nursing homes and private houses causes it to be underestimated. I have no fucking idea though which way these two contradicting biases balance each other out.
If a person with a pre-existing condition dies with corona, then the argument can be made both ways. You could say "they wouldn't have died if they didn't have covid". You could also say "they wouldn't have died if they didn't have the other condition". Both statements could be equally true. Trying to pinpoint the exact cause of death is tricky and can sometimes be up to interpretation of the coroner (or how that hospital's administration chooses their policy). You could split hairs about exactly which organ failed at which time and caused the person to die, but you never make a lot of of progress trying to tabulate global statistics that way because every area has different policies.There is a different story to tell here.
In a general sense, the impact of the virus on the population is also a story in its own right. There are going to be fewer car accident deaths and more deaths to people who never had covid but were unable to access health care due to overcrowded hospitals. So if we consider all the collateral damage (good and bad) we can just look at the total deaths in April and compare that against the number of deaths in an average April. That comparison also tells a meaningful story.
This post was edited by Kayeto on Apr 22 2020 05:49pm