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.”