4 ms·

How many Corona positive people are dying of non-Coronavirus related issues? Is that number really that much to impact the total figures?

s9w 7y ago
The age distribution is quite a signal that this is plausible. Then we have the Italian study that said only 1% had no other comorbidity. And then you have a few cases with enough details to go looking, usually the first death in a city/region or notable cases. As a random example this: https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/coronavirus/2020/03/first-lehigh-county-resident-to-die-from-the-coronavirus-was-80-official-says.html https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/coronavirus/2020/03/first-l...
- vanniv 7y ago
  Yowza, Fellow falls hits his head, dies from head trauma -- but because he had COVID, he "succumbed to the virus" Good grief
vanniv 7y ago
Normally, if be tempted to say "not many, probably" but The median fatal case in Italy is an 81-year old with 2 comorbidities (typically two of: heart disease, COPD, diabetes, obesity). An 81-year-old has a ~10% chance of dying in any given year, and an 81-year-old with serious underlying medical conditions is even likelier to die. If you're an 81-year-old with serious underlying health issues, you have a material chance of death generally in a 2-month period (which the coronavirus has been there). On top of that, for those folks, every illness is a high-risk occurrence (even a simple cold). The situation in Italy now is bad enough that there are definitely many COVID deaths that wouldn't have happened without COVID. But it is almost certainly the case that a meaningful number of these patients would have died in those two months anyway. (Roughly 2% of all 80+ population would have died in that time if the virus didn't exist; it seems very likely that that 2% would be disproportionately inclusive of those with serious underlying health issues -- which are the people most killed with COVID.

s9w 7y ago

The age distribution is quite a signal that this is plausible. Then we have the Italian study that said only 1% had no other comorbidity. And then you have a few cases with enough details to go looking, usually the first death in a city/region or notable cases. As a random example this: https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/coronavirus/2020/03/first-lehigh-county-resident-to-die-from-the-coronavirus-was-80-official-says.html https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/coronavirus/2020/03/first-l...

vanniv 7y ago
Yowza, Fellow falls hits his head, dies from head trauma -- but because he had COVID, he "succumbed to the virus" Good grief

vanniv 7y ago

Normally, if be tempted to say "not many, probably" but The median fatal case in Italy is an 81-year old with 2 comorbidities (typically two of: heart disease, COPD, diabetes, obesity). An 81-year-old has a ~10% chance of dying in any given year, and an 81-year-old with serious underlying medical conditions is even likelier to die. If you're an 81-year-old with serious underlying health issues, you have a material chance of death generally in a 2-month period (which the coronavirus has been there). On top of that, for those folks, every illness is a high-risk occurrence (even a simple cold). The situation in Italy now is bad enough that there are definitely many COVID deaths that wouldn't have happened without COVID. But it is almost certainly the case that a meaningful number of these patients would have died in those two months anyway. (Roughly 2% of all 80+ population would have died in that time if the virus didn't exist; it seems very likely that that 2% would be disproportionately inclusive of those with serious underlying health issues -- which are the people most killed with COVID.