A few days ago, we ran a story about the shocking data dump from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data release addressed the prevalence of “comorbidities” associated with the coronavirus pandemic – revealing that only a small percentage of Covid-19 deaths were exclusively linked to the mysterious virus.
For those of you unhip to the term, “comorbidity” is a variation of the Latin word morbus, which means “disease.” And obviously “co-” refers to things working in tandem. So, “comorbidities” are combinations of ailments working together to cause a person’s death.
As we reported, only six percent of the 161,392 total “coronavirus deaths” in the country (as of August 22, 2020) were exclusively linked to Covid-19.
Meaning there were only 9,684 pure “coronavirus deaths” nationwide.
The remaining 94 percent of “coronavirus deaths?” These were people who had “conditions or causes in addition to Covid-19,” according to the CDC. Of those, on average, there were “2.6 additional conditions or causes per death,” the agency noted.
Pretty significant, huh? We thought so … although we also presumed that the news would be interpreted by readers (like almost all Covid-19 headlines these days) according to their partisan or ideological orientation.
“For months, every Covid-19 headline has been chalked up as propaganda advancing one of two narratives: 1) Needless fear-mongering intent on keeping people dependent and economically inactive, or, 2) Ignorant and dangerous dismissal of a virus that poses clear and present dangers to public health,” we noted in a recent report.
Anyway, shortly after our story was published our founding editor Will Folks was contacted by a former nurse looking to shed some light on the data.
“I’ve been thinking about that CDC six percent number and I think it needs to be explained,” the nurse told us. “When a doctor fills out a death certificate, they usually fill out all health conditions (comorbidities) as well. The six percent of Covid-19 death certificates means that of all the deaths, six percent ONLY had Covid – and no other health conditions. The other 94 percent of death certificates are not stating they didn’t die of Covid – but are saying they had other health conditions in addition to Covid.”
Wait … is that good news or bad news?
“What this tells us is very few people who do not have comorbidities are dying of Covid,” she explained. “The rest are already in poor health or (a) compromised state.”
Which explains a lot about who this virus is targeting …
The nurse went on to explain the effect as being similar to someone who suffers from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as an underlying condition prior to contracting another disease – or “morbidity.”
“Let’s say you have HIV or cancer,” the nurse said. “You are in an immunocompromised state. Most HIV patients die from complications – meaning they contract some infection like pneumonia that their body cannot fight and they die. Same for some cancer patients. But on their death certificate, they will list pneumonia as cause of death along with HIV/ cancer and whatever else they had.”
“I think people jumped to conclusions with this CDC report because most are not educated on how death certificates work,” she concluded.
Americans? Uneducated? Say it ain’t so …
Anyway, we believe the CDC comorbidity data confirms that if you are under the age of fifty and in relatively good health – this disease is not a threat to you. Accordingly, whether Covid-19 cases are rising or falling – we would reiterate our objections to the mass societal shutdowns that have succeeded only in plunging our nation into an unprecedented economic depression.
Instead, we would argue that those who are older, in poor health or immunocompromised should continue to take precautions (just as we should continue to take precautions around such people). Beyond that? It is time for the rest of us to get back to living and working.
Past time, actually …
-FITSNews
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