@ABSORBER posted:I'm not confusing anything. The death certificate lists a chain of events or conditions that directly lead to a cause of death. That's the intent, anyway. The first condition (a) is the IMMEDIATE CAUSE of death. After that there can be MANY conditions listed that LEAD or possibly CONTRIBUTE to the cause of death listed in (a). The last condition listed is supposed to be the UNDERLYING CAUSE.
If COVID-19 (U07.1) is listed on ANY of those lines it is included in the number of total deaths in the Provisional Death Count report.
This does NOT mean it was the CAUSE of death or the UNDERLYING cause of death. It can be simply one of many conditions listed. And how does this condition get on the list? It was provided by the doctor/hospital/etc.. The person filing the report is not always the medical provider who treated the patient. Does this mean COVID-19 was NOT the cause or underlying cause of death? No. We simply don't know looking at the report.
Let's take a look at the the week ending 4/18/2020 which happens the be the highest weekly death count listed, 16,935. Note the last column, Deaths including Pneumonia, Influenza, or COVID-19, which lists 21,060 deaths. Also note the COVID-19 deaths are included in the count in this last column. And yes, I know it's obvious. Who's to say the cause of death or underlying cause of death wasn't pneumonia OR influenza? It's just as likely to be either of those just as much as it is COVID-19. The only way to tell (and you have to trust the person filling out the form) is to count either cause or underlying cause only. That is NOT what is listed in first column.
Which is why I stated "CDC lists deaths that INVOLVE COVID-19 or presumed COVID-19 (untested). Involve does not mean the cause of death." But of course it could mean cause of death and it could easily mean it was simply a contributing factor.
And of course it could mean the provider listed COVID-19 on the patient report because the patient tested positive when admitted to the hospital. Should the provider have listed it? Who knows? Chances are they are not the person filling out the death certificate and the person who does fill it our lists it as a condition because it is simply THERE on the medical report.
As far as my comment regarding the motorcycle death? Who knows? I was just trying to be funny--apparently I wasn't very sucessful. Granted it's not as simple as that but I can guarantee the death counts aren't 100% accurate. How could they be? What does a 95 year old person living in a nursing home die of anyway? Old age? Natural cause of death? That just means it could be one or many related and/or unrelated conditions.
Thought I'd also point out the influenza total deaths on the report: 6,539. Of course this just means a flu test was given or perhaps was presumed? But this count also COULD include COVID-19 as a condition on the death certificate.
Don't you think that's a little low? Don't you think some influenza deaths could simply be masquerading as COVID-19 deaths?