CDC drops an unexpected bomb: 6 percent of Covid-19 deaths list Covid alone; All others list 2.6 conditions
Photo Reuters, sometime before April 27, 2020: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (under NIH) Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House adviser and long-time AIDS researcher Deborah Birx, with CDC Director Robert Redfield at a White House briefing.
STAFF REPORTS
On Saturday night, August 29, 2020, many noticed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a data point on their page entitled “Provisional Deaths.”
The surprising statement was in the introduction to a rather innocuous-seeming chart included under the title: “Weekly Updates by Select Demographic and Geographic Characteristics.”
Under the heading “Comorbidities” came the description: “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. For data on comorbidities, click here to download.”
Take a look at some of these comorbidities. Sixty-eight thousand influenza and pneumonia! Fifty-four thousand respiratory failure! Fourteen thousand fifty-three sepsis! NOTE: Multiple causes are common, so the numbers will not all add up to the total since the same deaths are being counted in multiple categories, the CDC says (see footnote in photos).
Normally we wouldn’t see photos of data as compelling; but in these uncertain times, we’ve all been waiting for data, any data, that would provide details of the virus that has caused untold violence, economic hardship and misery to the American people. Kidney failure, more than 13,000 deaths. Vascular AND unspecified dementia, more than 18,000 deaths. It sounds like Covid-19 has attacked our elderly and sent them early to the grave.
How this occurred remains to be seen, but in the same web page, the CDC includes information on where the Covid deaths occurred. About one-third of the deaths nationwide occurred in “skilled nursing facilities,” a term used to define long-term care where skilled nurses are in charge. There is an investigation under way into how so many patients in these facilities ended up dying, ultimately, of Covid-19 as well as serious conditions that made them vulnerable.
The Interwebs wasted no time in capitalizing on this news. A meme was circulating about more than 9,000 deaths being actual Covid-19 deaths, as opposed to the more than 160,000 or more now listed (depending on the source) as dying from Covid-19.
President Trump retweeted a tweet from one of his attorneys that stated “Based on the recommendations of Drs. Fauci and Birx the US shut down the entire economy based on 9,000 deaths.” The link was from the Gateway Pundit, which most msm and all intellectuals see as a joke. According to journalism principles, taking the 6 percent of 170,000+ deaths is disingenuous on its face; and yet, the 6 percent figure of death certificates listing Covid-19 alone is damning enough. The reason it’s damning enough is that if you look at the chart above, you see that there are comorbidities such as “poisoning,” “cardiac arrest,” and “malignant neoplasms,” enough to make The New York Times look foolish for screaming on Memorial Day that 100,000 people had died of Covid-19.
Stay tuned for more fallout, including an almost-certain walk-back by the CDC on Monday about sharing that 6 percent of all Covid-related deaths listed Covid-19 alone as cause of death.