Media Wildly Distort CDC COVID-19 Comorbidities Statement, Then Blame Trump

A widely circulating story in the media is claiming that only 6% of the COVID-19 deaths were the result of the coronavirus. These stories bash the CDC for previously exaggerating the dangerousness of the epidemic, and then bash President Donald Trump for going along with the CDC on this issue. This story is based on a CDC statement from its Aug. 25 weekly report, which includes a table of “health conditions and contributing causes that are mentioned in conjunction with deaths involving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). For 6% of the deaths COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned on death certificates. For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death.” This quote is being trumpeted as an admission that the number of COVID deaths has been greatly exaggerated. The reality is that since the origin of the epidemic, it has been widely acknowledged that the highest mortality is among people who are already seriously ill with other diseases. It is those other diseases that CDC is documenting as “additional conditions” listed on the death certificates, that were involved in causing the deaths. That is why the first large group of U.S. cases were in a nursing home in Washington State. The people who die from COVID-19 frequently have serious medical problems, such as lung disease, heart disease, dementia, or diabetes. The deaths are therefore due to multiple causes, with the last straw knocking the person down being COVID-19. The is a common pattern seen in previous epidemics, such as the flu. A bad flu, which is much less severe than the COVID epidemic, can cause 60,000 deaths in the U.S. in one season, for the same reasons.