Social media is home to many misinterpretations of a recent CDC report on comorbidities and the coronavirus. Epidemiologist Justin Lessler sets things straight.
Since COVID-19 first began circulating within the United States, public health officials have known that those with underlying medical conditions face higher risks for severe illness and death if they contract the disease.
A recent report from the CDC appears to drill down that point with striking numbers, showing that 94% of US deaths involving COVID-19 since February were also associated with other conditions, or comorbidities.
According to the CDC: “For 6% of [coronavirus disease 2019] deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death. The number of deaths with each condition or cause is shown for all deaths and by age groups.”
That people had co-morbidities does not mean they did not die of #COVID19. COVID may have caused them or worked synergistically to kill them. There have been over 200,000 excess all cause deaths in the US this year, if COVID19 is not pushing up the numbers, what is? #COVIDKills https://t.co/CmPLkGKCy1
— Justin Lessler (@JustinLessler) August 30, 2020
The most common comorbidities, according to death records, include influenza and pneumonia, respiratory failure, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiac arrest.
The report has sparked confusion on the topic and some misleading narratives on social media, but Lessler emphasizes that these findings are not surprising. COVID-19 deaths are not easy to predict or prevent based on comorbidities, he says, and the virus is not only a concern for those with medical problems.
“[The report] surely includes some new data, but the general finding—that comorbidities increase your risk of dying from COVID-19—is not a surprise at all,” Lessler says. “This would be true for the flu or cancer or chicken pox. Really almost any disease you can name, your risks for death increase if you have other diseases and other conditions that make you sick.”
Here, Lessler, an infectious disease specialist at the Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, clarifies the CDC findings and their significance:
The post Only 6% without comorbidities? The truth about COVID deaths appeared first on Futurity.
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