99% of ‘Covid deaths’ not actually caused by the virus, CDC data shows

Nearly 99% of “Covid deaths” reported weekly by the CDC are not primarily caused by the virus, according to official data.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Covid dashboard shows that just 1.7% of the 324 Covid deaths recorded in the week ending August 19 had coronavirus as the primary cause of death.

The figures indicate that only a handful of victims included in the weekly figure were primarily killed by Covid. By comparison, the virus was responsible for one in three “Covid deaths” at the peak of the US pandemic in 2021.

The primary or underlying cause of death is defined as the disease, condition or event that initiated the chain of events leading directly to death. Consequences or complications of the primary cause of death are generally considered secondary causes of death.

For example, Covid could be listed as a secondary cause of death when the virus puts too much stress on someone with pre-existing heart disease.

The main cause of death is believed to be heart disease, with Covid being a contributing cause.

The percentage of Covid deaths in the week ending August 19 represents a slight increase from the previous week and continues a five-week upward trend, but is a drastic drop from at the height of the pandemic, when 30% of deaths listed Covid as the most serious problem. main cause.

Although the CDC did not indicate what was the leading cause of death in cases where Covid was the contributing factor, separate data According to the agency, so far in August the leading cause of death in the United States was cancer, followed by heart disease.

This new data is reassuring at a time when panic is mounting across the United States as new highly transmissible variants of Covid circulate, leading to more infections and hospitalizations and prompting the re-enforcement of some Covid mandates.

New variants EG.5, or Eris, and BA.X, or Pirola, have recently been detected in several countries around the world and in the United States.

These variants are highly mutated and thought to be more effective at evading vaccine and natural immunity, thus causing more infections.

Hollywood movie studio Lionsgate was one of the first major companies to enforce mask-wearing requirements last week, requiring employees to wear face coverings at its offices in Santa Monica, California. However, a few days later, the film studio reversed its decision.

Rutgers University in New Jersey and Morris Brown College in Georgia both announced last week that face masks would once again be mandatory for staff and students. Additionally, Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Santa Rosa, Calif., and Upstate Community Hospital in Syracuse, New York, have both reinstated mask-wearing requirements for doctors, nurses, patients and visitors.

Last week in Kentucky, the Lee County School District canceled classes less than two weeks after opening because nearly a fifth of its students were sick with a “tripledemic” illness, including Covid. , strep throat and the flu.

On Friday, President Biden said his administration would “probably” recommend that Americans get another Covid booster shot in the coming weeks.

He signed a proposal on Friday asking Congress for additional funding to update Covid vaccines to better protect against new variants. However, Americans are not very interested in receiving reminders and only 18% of eligible Americans have received some version of a reminder.