While it’s true that in 6% of COVID-19-related deaths, COVID-19 was the only diagnosis listed on the death certificate, that’s only part of the picture.
“Many clinicians will list the physiologic process which caused death,” says Dr. Braunstein. “For example, 55,000 of the death certificates had ‘respiratory failure’ listed as cause of death—we know that this is one of the most common mechanisms by which COVID-19 leads to death. We also know that in over 160,000 of the 180,000-plus deaths caused by COVID-19 in the US, COVID-19 was one of the diagnoses that was listed on the death certificate, and was felt to be the trigger for mortality.”
The CDC has never hidden the fact that pre-existing health conditions can cause people to experience
serious complications from COVID-19.
If you look beyond the 6%, you’ll learn that as of August 22, there were 161,392 death certificates that listed COVID-19 as a cause of death. And if you do the math, you’ll see that in 94% of deaths with COVID-19, other conditions are listed in addition to COVID-19, including chronic conditions like diabetes or hypertension as well as acute conditions that occurred as a result of COVID-19, such as pneumonia or respiratory failure.