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> Serious question, how many of those people would have died in the past 12 months if they didn't get COVID? The number is most likely not 500,000, but it also

> Serious question, how many of those people would have died in the past 12 months if they didn't get COVID? The number is most likely not 500,000, but it also probably isn't 0. This can be answered using “excess mortality” data. Studies have shown during that time period, about 600,000 more people died than would have been expected compared to deaths in the previous year. The official covid death count is likely an undercount of deaths caused by covid, because a number of people died from covid related complications and got recorded as pneumonia, Alzheimer’s, or heart disease/attack/stroke related deaths. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/14/us/covid-19-death-toll.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/14/us/covid-19-d...

hinkley 6y ago
There are also people not experiencing death by misadventure because people are doing fewer outdoor activities and most especially not hanging out with or showing off for the bad influences in their lives. Also offset by excess deaths over the next few years due to long term effects of a sedentary lifestyle, stress, and all the overcompensating we are likely to see next year with people trying to “make up for lost time”.
- panopticon 6y ago
  Many national parks set monthly visitation records last year, campground reservations are at all-time highs, and SAR operations across the country are stretched thing. What else was there to do when other vacation and travel activities are closed? I'm not sure how outdoors-y fatalities will be impacted by all of this, but people are definitely not "doing fewer outdoor actives" right now.
timr 6y ago
> The official covid death count is likely an undercount of deaths caused by covid, because a number of people died from covid related complications and got recorded as pneumonia, Alzheimer’s, or heart disease/attack/stroke related deaths. That's a theory. Meanwhile, we know that many places are classifying anyone who dies within N days of a positive test (N is typically 30) as a "covid death", regardless of actual cause. I can guarantee that not all of those people died from Covid-19. Point being: there's likely to be overcount and undercount, for different reasons.
- electrondood 6y ago
  I mean... there was a deadly global pandemic. It seems like you're just splitting hairs to discredit the fact that we're likely significantly undercounting COVID deaths.
  - timr 6y ago
    You're asserting something without proof, what I'm telling you is a fact, and a "deadly global pandemic" doesn't invalidate facts and make assertions true.

hinkley 6y ago

There are also people not experiencing death by misadventure because people are doing fewer outdoor activities and most especially not hanging out with or showing off for the bad influences in their lives. Also offset by excess deaths over the next few years due to long term effects of a sedentary lifestyle, stress, and all the overcompensating we are likely to see next year with people trying to “make up for lost time”.

panopticon 6y ago
Many national parks set monthly visitation records last year, campground reservations are at all-time highs, and SAR operations across the country are stretched thing. What else was there to do when other vacation and travel activities are closed? I'm not sure how outdoors-y fatalities will be impacted by all of this, but people are definitely not "doing fewer outdoor actives" right now.

timr 6y ago

> The official covid death count is likely an undercount of deaths caused by covid, because a number of people died from covid related complications and got recorded as pneumonia, Alzheimer’s, or heart disease/attack/stroke related deaths. That's a theory. Meanwhile, we know that many places are classifying anyone who dies within N days of a positive test (N is typically 30) as a "covid death", regardless of actual cause. I can guarantee that not all of those people died from Covid-19. Point being: there's likely to be overcount and undercount, for different reasons.

electrondood 6y ago
I mean... there was a deadly global pandemic. It seems like you're just splitting hairs to discredit the fact that we're likely significantly undercounting COVID deaths.
- timr 6y ago
  You're asserting something without proof, what I'm telling you is a fact, and a "deadly global pandemic" doesn't invalidate facts and make assertions true.