New updated data from CDC now shows that just 6% of the 161,392 reported US coronavirus deaths are caused by ONLY COVID-19

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently updated its provisional death counts for reporting period 2/1/2020 through 8/22/2020. According to the stats, CDC said that only 6% of the 153,504 US deaths are related to COVID-19 only.

The other 94% had, on average, 2+ pre-existing conditions or causes per death. In other words, 94% of Americans who died from COVID-19 had other “types of health conditions and contributing causes” in addition to the virus,  CDC said in the news report. Nearly 60% of all deaths were over 75 years of age.

The new CDC report has sparked debate about who has died ‘from’ COVID-19 rather than ‘with’ COVID-19.  CDC said “the provisional death counts are based on death certificate data received and coded by the National Center for Health Statistics as of August 26, 2020. Death counts are delayed and may differ from other published sources.”

Given that the average life expectancy rate in the US is 78, it is not surprising to see that a couple of states purposely put COVID patients in nursing homes where individuals were at greater risk.

Below is the excerpt from the CDC on Comorbidities.

Table 3 shows the types of health conditions and contributing causes mentioned in conjunction with deaths involving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). For 6% of the 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.

Update: The headline is updated to reflect the verbiage used by the CDC.

Old Title: New updated data from CDC now shows that ONLY 6% of the 161,392 reported US coronavirus deaths are related to COVID-19

New Title: New updated data from CDC now shows that 6% of the 161,392 reported US coronavirus deaths are caused by ONLY COVID-19

CDC NOTE: Number of conditions reported in this table are tabulated from deaths received and coded as of the date of analysis and do not represent all deaths that occurred in that period. Data for this table are derived from a cut of the NVSS database taken at a particular time, separate from other surveillance tables on this page which are tabulated on the date of update. As a result, the total number of COVID-19 deaths in this table may not match other surveillance tables on this page.

*Data during the period are incomplete because of the lag in time between when the death occurred and when the death certificate is completed, submitted to NCHS, and processed for reporting purposes. This delay can range from 1 week to 8 weeks or more.

1Conditions contributing to death were identified using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICDndash;10). Deaths involving more than one condition (e.g., deaths involving both diabetes and respiratory arrest) were counted in both totals. To avoid counting the same death multiple times, the numbers for different conditions should not be summated.

2Deaths with confirmed or presumed COVID-19, coded to ICD–10 code U07.1