3 ms·

In the US, if the person tested positive, it is classified as covid19 death. Also it seems that 98% of covid19 deaths have at least one comorbidity, 75% at lea

by cm2187 7y ago

In the US, if the person tested positive, it is classified as covid19 death. Also it seems that 98% of covid19 deaths have at least one comorbidity, 75% at least two. So I would expect that in many cases the virus may have just accelerated something that would have happened within a few months anyway. So you kind of need to look at how the full year death rate evolved to have an idea of the net impact of the virus.

ajross 7y ago
That's a misunderstanding of how death works. Everything is a comorbidity on some level. > just accelerated something that would have happened within a few months anyway That's absolutely not what this means. Asthma is a comorbidity. Are asthmatics just a few months from death? I have hypertension, am I about to kick the bucket? Sixty percent of the US population (no doubt including many of the posters on this very thread) are overweight, yet somehow we keep coming back. Almost nothing kills "by itself". Everything adds up, and eventually the body stops working. Other diseases work this way too, yet you don't complain that yearly influenza deaths are inflated. Would you have argued that AIDS deaths were "really" due to the final infection and not HIV?
- cm2187 7y ago
  The study I got these numbers from doesn't seem to classify asthma or obesity as a comorbidity. The largest ones are hypertension, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, atrial fibrilation, active cancer in past 5y, heart failure, COPD, dementia, stroke and chronic liver disease. Not familiar with all items in this list but some seem pretty serious.
  - ajross 7y ago
    So you think that stroke victims and retirees with dementia are just months from the grave? FWIW: I've personally been living with diagnosed atrial fibrilation for almost three decades. Diabetes is, literally, a lifelong illness for its sufferers. In fact, please cite me any of those factors which will reasonable by expected to kill you in months. Even heart failure and cancer patients tend to live years to decades with treatment.
    - cm2187 7y ago
      Of the people who died of this virus, yes, it is likely that a not insignificant percentage were in pretty bad shape. We are not talking about the whole population who have these comorbidities in the country.
  - afpx 7y ago
    This shows the full list of conditions that are high risk: https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/if-you-are-at-higher-risk https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/if-yo... A lot of people fall into those categories.

by cm2187 7y ago

ajross 7y ago

That's a misunderstanding of how death works. Everything is a comorbidity on some level. > just accelerated something that would have happened within a few months anyway That's absolutely not what this means. Asthma is a comorbidity. Are asthmatics just a few months from death? I have hypertension, am I about to kick the bucket? Sixty percent of the US population (no doubt including many of the posters on this very thread) are overweight, yet somehow we keep coming back. Almost nothing kills "by itself". Everything adds up, and eventually the body stops working. Other diseases work this way too, yet you don't complain that yearly influenza deaths are inflated. Would you have argued that AIDS deaths were "really" due to the final infection and not HIV?

cm2187 7y ago
The study I got these numbers from doesn't seem to classify asthma or obesity as a comorbidity. The largest ones are hypertension, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, atrial fibrilation, active cancer in past 5y, heart failure, COPD, dementia, stroke and chronic liver disease. Not familiar with all items in this list but some seem pretty serious.
- ajross 7y ago
  So you think that stroke victims and retirees with dementia are just months from the grave? FWIW: I've personally been living with diagnosed atrial fibrilation for almost three decades. Diabetes is, literally, a lifelong illness for its sufferers. In fact, please cite me any of those factors which will reasonable by expected to kill you in months. Even heart failure and cancer patients tend to live years to decades with treatment.
  - cm2187 7y ago
    Of the people who died of this virus, yes, it is likely that a not insignificant percentage were in pretty bad shape. We are not talking about the whole population who have these comorbidities in the country.
- afpx 7y ago
  This shows the full list of conditions that are high risk: https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/if-you-are-at-higher-risk https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/if-yo... A lot of people fall into those categories.