NPR: Americans Are Dying In The Pandemic At Rates Far Higher Than In Other Countries. “During this pandemic, people in the United States are dying at rates unparalleled elsewhere in the world. A new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that in the past five months, per capita deaths in the U.S., both from COVID-19 and other causes, have been far greater than in 18 other high-income countries.”
mortality
Washington Post: Proposal to hasten herd immunity to the coronavirus grabs White House attention but appalls top scientists
Washington Post: Proposal to hasten herd immunity to the coronavirus grabs White House attention but appalls top scientists. “A senior administration official told reporters in a background briefing call Monday that the proposed strategy — which has been denounced by other infectious-disease experts and has been called ‘fringe’ and ‘dangerous’ by National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins — supports what has been Trump’s policy for months.”
VOX EU: The US excess mortality rate from COVID-19 is substantially worse than Europe’s
VOX EU: The US excess mortality rate from COVID-19 is substantially worse than Europe’s. “The US has 4% of the world’s population but 21% of the global COVID-19-attributed infections and deaths. This column shows that when comparing excess mortality rates, a more robust way of reporting on pandemic deaths, Europe’s cumulative excess mortality rate from March to July is 28% lower than the US rate, contradicting the Trump administration’s claim that Europe’s rate is 33% higher. The US Northeast – the region most comparable with individual European countries – has experienced substantially worse excess mortality than Europe’s worst-affected countries. Had the US kept its excess mortality rate down to the level in Europe, around 57,800 American lives would have been saved. ”
STAT News: Is Covid-19 growing less lethal? The infection fatality rate says ‘no’
STAT News: Is Covid-19 growing less lethal? The infection fatality rate says ‘no’. “Recent reports have suggested that Covid-19 has become markedly less lethal in the United States. Our analysis of death rates and infection fatality rates from Arizona, the U.S. as a whole, and New York City shows it isn’t, indicating that public health measures to reduce infections should not be relaxed.”
BBC: Man who believed virus was hoax loses wife to Covid-19
BBC: Man who believed virus was hoax loses wife to Covid-19. “A Florida taxi driver, who believed false claims that coronavirus was a hoax, has lost his wife to Covid-19. Brian Lee Hitchens and his wife, Erin, had read claims online that the virus was fabricated, linked to 5G or similar to the flu. The couple didn’t follow health guidance or seek help when they fell ill in early May. Brian recovered but his 46-year-old wife became critically ill and died [in August] from heart problems linked to the virus.”
Coronavirus: The US has not reduced its Covid-19 death toll to 6% of total (BBC)
BBC: Coronavirus: The US has not reduced its Covid-19 death toll to 6% of total. “The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it has been deluged with queries about false rumours the official tally of Covid-19 deaths is drastically lower than the publicised headline figure of about 185,000. Social-media posts making this bogus claim have been circulating widely on the internet. And one re-tweeted by President Trump was removed by Twitter for breaching its guidelines.”
Associated Press: Mounting US deaths reveal an outsize toll on people of color
Associated Press: Mounting US deaths reveal an outsize toll on people of color. “As many as 215,000 more people than usual died in the U.S. during the first seven months of 2020, suggesting that the number of lives lost to the coronavirus is significantly higher than the official toll. And half the dead were people of color — Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and, to a marked degree unrecognized until now, Asian Americans. The new figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlight a stark disparity: Deaths among minorities during the crisis have risen far more than they have among whites.”
Coronavirus in South Africa: Whistleblower questions winter tent deaths (BBC)
BBC: Coronavirus in South Africa: Whistleblower questions winter tent deaths. “Suspected Covid-19 patients were routinely left for hours in an open tent, in sub-zero temperatures, outside a South African hospital during the mid-winter peak of the pandemic, leading to ‘many’ people dying of suspected hypothermia, according to an exclusive investigation by BBC News. The revelations have emerged as South Africa’s government has acknowledged and condemned widespread corruption and mismanagement during its response to the pandemic.”
ProPublica: Local Officials Say a Nursing Home Dumped Residents to Die at Hospitals
ProPublica: Local Officials Say a Nursing Home Dumped Residents to Die at Hospitals. “The nurse with the Columbia County Health Department recorded the COVID-19 deaths at nearby hospitals — two at Albany Medical Center on May 4, another at the same hospital two days later; one at Columbia Memorial Hospital on May 17, and another there two days later — and, along with her boss, concluded there was a pattern. The people dying at the hospitals had been residents of a local nursing home, the Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing at Barnwell in the tiny town of Valatie, New York.”
‘A part of us died’: Along the Texas-Mexico border, a coronavirus crisis (Houston Chronicle)
Houston Chronicle: ‘A part of us died’: Along the Texas-Mexico border, a coronavirus crisis. “Six adults in the Treviño family battled COVID-19 for weeks in the hospital and in their small three-bedroom home close to the border with Mexico. Five survived. The sixth, Maria Treviño, 79, was laid to rest Tuesday amid acres of flowers and graves in the Garden of Angels cemetery that abuts the Rio Grande. The family’s tears slid into their masks as Luis Chavez, 36, played long, sorrowful notes on his trumpet.”
SBS News: Coronavirus conspiracy theories and social media rumours linked to 800 deaths worldwide
SBS News: Coronavirus conspiracy theories and social media rumours linked to 800 deaths worldwide. “Coronavirus conspiracy theories spread on social media in dozens of different languages have been linked to hundreds of deaths across the globe, a new study has found. The study, published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, found approximately 800 people had died and 5,800 had been hospitalised due to COVID-19 misinformation spread online.”
Philadelphia Tribune: Over 900 health care workers have died from coronavirus. A new database tells their stories
Philadelphia Tribune: Over 900 health care workers have died from coronavirus. A new database tells their stories. “Of the nearly 165,000 Americans who’ve died from the coronavirus, at least 900 reportedly were health care workers. Now, the life stories of frontline physicians, nurses, clinical support staff and cleaners are being compiled in a new interactive database from Kaiser Health News and the Guardian US.”
Coronavirus: England highest level of excess deaths (BBC)
BBC: Coronavirus: England highest level of excess deaths. “The UK saw some of the biggest rises in deaths rates in Europe in the months until the middle of June, official analysis shows. England saw the largest increase in death rates in Europe, with Scotland seeing the third largest increase. The Office for National Statistics says that Spain saw the highest peak in rates of death in Europe. But the UK had the longest period of above-average deaths and so overall saw higher death rates.”
Texas Tribune: With 1,000 new coronavirus fatalities in Texas in just 6 days, the state’s death count is rising faster
Texas Tribune: With 1,000 new coronavirus fatalities in Texas in just 6 days, the state’s death count is rising faster. “Texas reached another grim milestone Sunday when it surpassed 5,000 deaths from the new coronavirus. In doing so, the state reported 1,000 deaths in six days, four days faster than it took to hit that total the previous time.”
Reuters: Spain’s COVID-19 death toll could be 60% higher than official count, says El Pais
Reuters: Spain’s COVID-19 death toll could be 60% higher than official count, says El Pais. “Spain’s COVID-19 death toll could be nearly 60% higher than the official figure of 28,432, according to an investigation by El Pais newspaper published on Sunday. The country’s official death toll includes only people who were formally diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, not suspected cases who were never tested.”