Mortality in the U.S. was more than 280,000 higher during the first eight months of 2020

[swag]

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/mortality-in-the-u-s-was-more-than-280000-higher-during-the-first-eight-months-of-2020-than-any-of-the-previous-five-years-over-the-same-period/



Mortality in the U.S. was more than 280,000 higher during the first eight months of 2020 than any of the previous five years over the same period

A recurring claim during the COVID-19 pandemic is that the mortality in 2020 is similar to that of previous years. Such allegations downplay the extent and seriousness of the pandemic by suggesting that COVID-19 has no impact on the overall number of people dying each year. Health Feedback reviewed some of these claims here and here. Another version of this claim circulated in early October 2020 alleging that mortality during the first 34 weeks of 2020 was not different from that of previous years. However, an analysis of the death counts recorded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) since 2015 shows that this claim is inaccurate, as we demonstrate below.
The CDC records the number of deaths that occur each week in the U.S.. Health Feedback gathered weekly death counts for every year from 2015 to 2019 and compared the data from weeks one to week 34 of each year with that of 2020.

Comparing death counts that occurred during a given year with the average death counts from previous years highlights periods of time where the mortality is greater than average, known as excess death or excess mortality. It is sometimes difficult to measure the burden of a given event, such as a war or pandemic, in part because of technical limitations like a lack of diagnostic testing. However, evaluating the number of excess deaths provides a direct measure of whether a period of time is abnormally deadly.

First, Health Feedback looked at the cumulative number of deaths in the U.S. from 2015 to 2020 between weeks one to 34 of each year (see Figure 1). The cumulative number of deaths in 2020 is far greater than the cumulative number of deaths of any year from 2015 to 2019, as clearly shown in the figure below. Furthermore, the cumulative number of deaths in 2020 is consistently greater than the number of deaths in previous years, starting on week 13. Week 13 in 2020 began on Sunday 22 March, following an increase in COVID-19 activity in the U.S.

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[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. That's with deaths down by traffic accidents and influenza (due to distancing). It's more than 280K

That means there have been more than 280,000 Covid deaths because other deaths are down.

[rzemanfl]

3. Good point. Some of those deaths are probably from people neglecting

other medical problems because of fear of COVID or degraded responses to them because of the strain COVID put on emergency services. Also suicides, alcohol and drug related deaths. Some murders may not show up in the numbers, I believe bodies will still be being found in chest freezers and gardens a decade from now that are related to the stress of 2020.

[brewens]

2. Those are numbers that can't hide. We keep pretty good figures on deaths. Insurance companies

and a lot of agencies rely on that data. Deaths are fairly consistent from year to year. Those people with comorbidities, I'm pretty sure life insurance companies were hoping they would keep paying them for many more years.

[bullimiami]

4. And that's the actual COVID mortality.

280000 / 8,000,000 =

Around 3.5%

Not good.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. I don't doubt it

I feel like I've died several times this year

[niyad]

6. And we are now nearly halfway through the tenth month, with cases rising. True numbers will

probably approach 500,000 by year's end.

It didn't have to be this way.

[Beartracks]

9. Is Trump TRYING to set a record for deaths? We know he really likes big numbers.

Oh, wait, he already set the COVID record months ago. I think he's also actually set a record for "Americans killed under his watch."

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[patphil]

7. Unfortunately, this is science. So all those Trumpsters will reject it.

They probably think all those people faked their own deaths, and now live in Canada or Central America.

[niyad]

10. Shhhhhhh. You were not supposed to tell!!

[Beartracks]

8. But, but, Republicans say they're counting normal deaths as COVID deaths!!1!

And this was a point I wish I'd made to my conspiracy theory neighbor: if the COVID deaths are vastly inflated by deaths that would have happened anyway, then why have SO many more people died this year, WAY more than normal? A hoax can't do that.

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[niyad]

11. I did try explaining this to one such person. Refused to understand. "But. .but. . ." My

head started to ache, so I gave up.