Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

So 200k excess deaths in the US so far. Let's talk about that number. I'd surmise car deaths are down 40-50% since less cars are on the road. But then lets look at what might increase in 2020. We know that there are excess Alzheimer's and dementia deaths and we also know there is an increase in Suicides and drug and alcohol overdoses because of depression. So what is the "real" Covid death toll. I know people won't care and say "200k is 200k" but it's important to know an accurate Covid death toll so we can make the correct policy going forward. My guess is somewhere around 50-60k Covid deaths and the rest is attributable to other causes. NO ONE will know for sure and we won't have an accurate tally until maybe sometime next year.

Summer wave of dementia deaths adds thousands to pandemic's deadly toll

 

Blocking out willful ignorance and blatant apathy are last resorts... responding to it further perpetuates the stupidity and disinformation.

 

I agree. People with their head in the sand and thinking we need to stay locked down and don't want sports back are definitely adding to the stupidity and should be ignored.

 

Good info and we should take it seriously and try to understand/mitigate it. As the article indicates, the increase in deaths has a direct correlation with spikes in the pandemic. The better we do at controlling the pandemic to prevent the spikes, the fewer of these excess deaths we would have.

So again, put these where they belong... in Trump's lap for his intentional mishandling of this pandemic.

 

Please point out where I've not blamed Trump for his handling of Covid. Hint, you won't.

 

You're jumping the gun. Trump said he would give himself an A+ after the vaccine comes out.

 

You know it's more than simply disagreeing with an opinion. It took me this long to finally do it and there are plenty that disagree with my opinion that aren't being blocked.

 

Sorry. Blocking a poster on a message board is weak sauce in my opinion.
I say that with all due respect Mr. Reaper...sir.

 

I just find zero value in regurgitated opinions with zero budge. As I said, before this I had nobody blocked. I finally had enough.

 

My apologies if I misinterpreted your quote. It seemed that while you consider him a failure on this issue you still support him in the race for POTUS. I just can't fathom how any reasonable person can support that man after his disdain for respect for others (vets, pow, fallen soldiers, anybody that disagrees with him), his obvious connections to Russia, his dismissal and flouting of the laws of the land, and the number of people he has been indirectly responsible for killing with his response to covid to hit the highlights.

With respect to kids spreading it there was widespread misinformation that kids could not spread the virus that was being posted here by many not that long ago. that has been proven to be false but many seem to cling to it when discussing the risks associated with school openings. At my son's high school he tells me that at least half the kids wear masks as chin straps in the hallways and only put them on in the class when the teachers enforce it which varies by classroom. I will be pleasantly surprised if school openings do not lead to an uptick in cases and then the related hospitalizations and deaths. For our protection, my son now wears KN95 masks at school to hopefully prevent him from being infected by those that refuse to wear masks properly. It's all a giant crap shoot at this point and it didn't need to be this way.

 

I have also blocked a poster for the first time ever.

 

You do realize that if car deaths are down, that makes the share of those 200,000 related to other things - like Covid - higher.

There are absolutely more depression related deaths. There are certainly fewer automobile related deaths. You're guessing the balance of the other factors eats up a large chunk of the 200,000. I'm saying I actually trust the doctors and don't believe there is a conspiracy to over report the deaths being orchestrated across a thousand hospitals.

Neither of us can prove the number. I choose to believe medical professionals and find some validation for that trust in the excess death number being very similar.

 

That's good.

But you do seem to consistently deflect from his mishandling of COVID, and I don't see you calling it out.

Which would explain my perception of your thoughts on the subject, and reactions (mine and others) to posts that appear to deflect.

 

I specifically mentioned car deaths being down 40-50% to show that I realize some deaths will be down. Why is there an incentive for hospitals to label someone with Covid? If there wasn't an incentive then I'd agree that the deaths from Covid would be more believable. But since money is involved and hospitals are losing billions of dollars then yes, I'm calling BS on the numbers. No explanation of the increase in Alzheimer's and dementia deaths along with increases in suicides and drug and alcohol deaths from depression. We didn't even discuss the cancer and heart disease deaths that weren't treated properly as well.

 

This was yesterday. Sorry to ruin your rant.

 

If somebody has heart disease and they get killed in a fire, are we supposed to count that death as heart disease?

People live with various conditions of morbidity often for decades.

The deaths are being counted against the main cause of death. That's consistent practice. Nothing special with COVID.

And comorbidity has always been called out as putting people at higher risk. That's not being hidden.

 

Yup.

Here's excess deaths represented in weekly death totals in the US:


No doubt there are non-covid deaths in those overages, but man, those curves look so familiar. I can't seem to place where I've seen those before....

Oh, wait! That's right! Those are exactly the same as covid deaths:


But I'm sure the unfortunate Alzheimer's deaths decided to follow covid deaths precisely week in and week out.

 

My wife is a nurse. I know a lot of medical professionals. I'd suggest that if you think those doctors are going to risk their licenses and livelihoods to fabricate reporting you are misinformed. You'd NEVER keep that quiet. You'd have docs going to the press telling us they are being pressured to falsify cause of death. I just don't accept these kinds of conspiracy theories. You're certainly free to indulge in them.

 

You're making that number up. Literally. When you say there are factors that would push it one way and factors that would push it another way and I think the net impact of those factors is X based on - what I think - that is making it up. You might be in the ballpark. I don't believe so. But it is still an entirely made up number.

 

Go back a few pages and look at Milwaukee's reporting of Covid deaths. Showed 3 examples. Can't help if people keep their heads buried in the sand. Nothing is going to happen to the Medical examiners. The hospitals aren't going to investigate. They need the money, bad.