Tuesday, April 28, 2020

If Coronavirus Threat's So Great, Why's U.S. Overall Death Rate Down?

Why is the overall U.S. death rate declining in the midst of a deadly pandemic?

In recent weeks, despite a growing COVID-19 infection rate and rising fatalities, the overall U.S. crude death rate is falling.

"Despite the panic over the Wuhan virus, it now appears that the overall U.S. death rate this winter season is at a multi-year low, no worse than 2014, 2016, and 2019, and far better than 2015, 2017, and 2018," writes blogger Robert Zimmerman.

Centers for Disease Control data indicate the current average U.S. overall death rate, even amid the coronavirus pandemic, is actually lower than it has been for much of the past seven years and well below the long-term average.

As of the first week of April, the last week for which there is solid data, the U.S. overall death rate including COVID-19 fatalities was about 14.9 deaths per 100,000.

"Pennsylvania Health Department officials had included in their count 'probable' coronavirus deaths in cases where they believed the virus was the cause of death but did not have confirmation from a positive test result," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

A recent Stanford University study suggests that the true death rate from COVID-19, rather than being 3% or higher, as the World Health Organization predicted, is really about 0.1% to 0.2%. That's about the same as the flu.


https://issuesinsights.com/2020/04/28/if-coronavirus-threats-so-great-whys-u-s-overall-death-rate-down/

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