Just to keep track of the nonsense that has wrecked our economy and generally made our politicians run around as if their fool heads were on fire, each day I publish the corona virus total death toll in the US based upon the latest data I can find. A single death is an immense tragedy if you love the person. However, we are not talking about love, but rather public policy, which should always involve a sober analysis of risk and cost. Please recall that in a bad normal flu year our death toll in the US can be as high as 90,000.
Note: this will be a total death toll since the beginning of this bad farce, and not a daily toll. As of the beginning of May 1 the death toll is 63,871 . May the Perpetual Light shine upon them.
It should be noted again that the day to day totals now include people suspected of dying of Covid-19, days or weeks before. The daily totals thus do not reflect just people who died in the past 24 hours. If only those deaths were reflected, we would be seeing a strong downward slope.
Update: Hattip to commenter Michael Dowd. Project Veritas has funeral directors in New York City on video voicing suspicions that Covid-19 is being placed on death certificate in cases where the decedent did not die from the virus.
“They’re writing #COVID on all the death certificates. Whether they had a positive test, whether they didn’t.” – Michael Lanza Funeral Director, Colonial Funeral Home pic.twitter.com/QqHWQGU6qe
— Project Veritas (@Project_Veritas) April 30, 2020
IF YOU HAVE DIFFICULTY listening to this video, click the time stamp (April 30, 2020) to view it directly on Twitter.com.
Not at all surprising…
Also reasonable to suspect that many died of the virus at home or elsewhere (not a hospital) and no one ever knew or ever will. This would include today, yesterday and going back to February and January, and maybe even 2019.
Yep, just like the flu Ben. I have heard squirrels described as rats with bushy tails and better press. Covid-19, outside of New York City and New Jersey, is the flu with much more media, and political, attention.
Highly doubtful that the official US coronavirus death toll is anywhere near accurate, ever since the matter became weaponized against Trump, as we now know, to claim that he “lost more US citizens to coronavirus than were killed in the Vietnam War.”
Skillfully crafted propaganda question also shows that the real people controlling the media and the brainless 20-something reporter-puppet phalanx are the same very old, ‘60s Leftist anti-America types.
And then their is this:
https://www.dailywire.com/news/pennsylvania-forced-to-remove-hundreds-of-deaths-from-coronavirus-death-count-after-coroners-raise-red-flags?%3Futm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dwtwitter
Don,
Not like the flu.
When considering what appears to be a real problem (Like Covid19) and what appears to be normal (like the annual flu), it’s helpful to look at distinctions. What stands out as unique or special or odd about Covid (vs.the flu)?
Inference: This thing is a real killer!
Don’t misunderstand me. I actually never agreed with the “lock-downs” except places like NYC. Not even back in mid-March.
Ben – I’ve been enjoying your comments. It’s driving me crazy that there are political sides about virology. Policy, sure. That makes sense. But I’m seeing people blaming a president for an outbreak, or denying one exists.
I also respect Don. He’s been sticking with his daily count even as the numbers get higher. And I know he really means it when he prays that the Perpetual Light shine upon them.
I’m hearing that a large majority of the dead are males. Makes me wish I had had gender reassignment surgery. Better mutilated than dead, right?
Just kidding. Lighten up and wash your hands, people.
You make a serious point in an amusing way T. Shaw. We live in a culture that believes in illusions. We think that we can control biology through cosmetic surgery and psycho-babble propaganda and social enforcement. If we all pretend Bruce Jenner was a woman all along, for example, then you can say nonsense like Caitlyn Jenner was the first woman to win the gold medal in the Men’s decathalon.
It’s not much of a leap from that to thinking you can control a virus by making everyone hide from it until further notice.
Ernst,
Here’s another one…
When my son was 16 he got his license and started working and informed me that he was essentially an adult now. If he self identifies as an adult, who are we to judge? Right?
Ben,
The big point is that if we say “probably many people died of the Coronavirus at home without being accurately diagnosed for it, so the numbers should be higher than reported” we can say that about the flu as well. It’s not to say that the flu is identical in all ways to the Coronavirus, but that there are certainly people who die from it who aren’t accurately reported. So when we are comparing flu and Coronavirus death numbers we shouldn’t increase only the Coronavirus numbers because of it because then we will have two counts that are counted in a different way and thus can’t be compared.
Rudolph,
Yes, but consider this…
Consider those who died at home (or anywhere really) after having flu like symptoms, but before March when Covid was not really suspect. They may have said “it was the flu”. Same for those who recovered. In this case flu #’s this season would be inaccurate (too high) and Covid #’s would be inaccurate (too low)
Rudolph – It’s a serious problem. Most of what we use the data for is comparison, so we’re relying on preserved record-keeping from 1918, honest reporting in China, detailed medical knowledge from the 1400’s, et cetera.
Here’s the thing though: The CDC keeps detailed records for deaths from all causes. And if SARS CoV-2 was the killer it’s been made out to be, we’d see that in the statistics. There would be an uptick in the weekly year over year averages. Except there isn’t one. For the most part, it would seem that SARS CoV-2 is killing the people who would have died anyway from some other cause. And that’s because we don’t have a statistical category labeled “he/she was old and it was his/her time.”
Now, maybe the numbers will get revised upwards. I concede that. But in fairness, given what government has done with official numbers (unexpectedly! anyone?) would we trust the statistics?
This is interesting….
New Mexico mayor fires official after reopening city
https://apnews.com/6f84396458287a29f5a371b0597edf83
“Hours after reopening the golf course, two New Mexico State Police officers arrived and issued course director Kim Garduno a warning against violating the statewide health order that keeps nonessential businesses closed.
Hicks (the Mayor) arrived shortly after with his city police entourage and vowed to use his police officers to order New Mexico State Police out of town.”
I guess the Dictator in NM is trying to wrest the Miss Dictator Crown from the MI Dictator.
New Mexico blocks roads into Gallup as virus cases surge
https://apnews.com/95e72d5449bc3265da4b83b174865033
“Gallup is a hub for basic household supplies, liquor sales and water-container refills for people living in remote stretches of the Navajo Nation — often without full indoor plumbing — and indigenous Zuni Pueblo.”
“Patrick Sandoval came to Gallup from Ganado on the Navajo Nation early Friday to stock up on items for his family and neighbors. He stood in line for 40 minutes to enter a Walmart and was surprised to find that entire sections were blocked off with signs in English and Navajo that put nonessential purchases off limits.”
“City officials requested new state of emergency under the riot act that can prohibit people from walking streets and using certain roads. Violations are punishable as misdemeanors on a first offense and as a felony on the second offense.”
I guess the Indian takes it on the chin again.
From the Illinois Dept of Health I have learned a couple of things today. First, the majority of positive test have been in the 30-59 year age group, 53%. Second, the overwhelming majority of deaths have been in the 60 to 80+ groups, 82%, with 42% of all deaths coming from the 80+ group. Please tell explain why our schools and businesses are closed.
Ken,
The schools and businesses are closed because SHUT UP, peasant.
They [who benefit from exaggerating the perceived impacts of the CMV and economic and societal devastation] think we’re mushrooms. They keep us in the dark and feed us bovine excrement.
Last night, I caught on TV the last five minutes of Liz Wheeler on One America News. She did the five things the China media didn’t report today. One, children are not China Murder Virus vectors; so why are schools closed?
That’s a bit like asking “if crime is so low why are the prisons full?”.
The schools are closed so kids don’t become transmission vectors.
Yeah, by having their parents dump them with granny while they are working.
sigh After a fashion, we shouldn’t be surprised by dubious death tolls from covid. Consider: Contraception has been legal since 1966, abortion legal since 1973. Since then, any time numbers of abortions drop by a few percentage points, the “pro-choice” advocacy will jump on the media. We’ll here that the Sexual Revolution succeeded, that women now have better education, so they’re obviously using contraceptives more. Or women are requiring that men wear condoms. Or both. Any mention of chastity that manages to sneak through will be soundly scoffed upon. Pregnancy has thus been defined as “disease” if the woman does not wish to be a mother. Sometimes at the behest of the would-be father, sometimes not. In the last 30 years, media outlets will lap it up and dispense the hooey like faithful puppy dogs.
Next, abortion advocates will walk a skilled line: We’ll occasionally see a slight drop in abortions, yet we’ll hear constant demands to fund Planned Parenthood and the like. Don’t you know? Those POOR women out there NEED abortions to have a chance to be financially independent. …Never mind that even Guttmacher numbers show quite plainly that the majority of women having abortions…are not impoverished and never were. We STILL need abortion funding because, well, you never know who we might be missing. …Or because we need a not-quite-admitted underclass of peons to vote for continued social welfare. Those same programs allow lots of powerful people to remain in powerful roles. In other words, more jury-rigging of numbers will be the norm for abortion. Telling the truth would threaten the continued provisions for tons of money.
Those who can wield all the more political power over a disease will certainly not give away that power until the numbers become too bald to ignore.