I am not sure, my fiancé and I both had delta variant of covid, I was unwell for a week he has been really ill for two and is still not fully recovered a month after he contracted it. That’s because of his diabetes. If he had died the covid would have been the cause of death but it was the diabetes that really killed him. It’s a genetic illness for him so maybe his cause of death is built into his DNA? Then again he may get run over by a bus tomorrow.
But how do you ever get around this? My wife had cancer, but her body shut down at the end and she had pneumonia - so what killed her? How far down the line is that then 'true' - ie if you have a bad illness of any type and that leads to another ailment that you then die of, what is the real cause of death?
Does it matter here? Unless the figures are intentionally meant to mislead, the figures are trying to give the best indication possible (and I would assume the method for collecting the figures would have been agreed by the scientists?). I would have thought that for the WHO, a single method of collecting the data would have been sensible though.
Death certificates don’t have to give one cause of death … in the instance @debs64 suggests surely the death would be recorded as Covid with diabetes as a contributory factor?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Does it matter here? Unless the figures are intentionally meant to
mislead, the figures are trying to give the best indication possible
(and I would assume the method for collecting the figures would have
been agreed by the scientists?). I would have thought that for the WHO, a
single method of collecting the data would have been sensible though.
It does matter when internationally the global Covid death total is said to be somewhere between five and twenty million. That's a huge difference. If China has lost millions. These things are vital to know - but without good data we're are floundering. You can't share or produce life saving drugs if you don't know the scale of illness. You can't budget or plan infrastructure or see future crises coming.
I don't think there is one global data system agreed for all health systems. They collect and measure differently. The WHO is just an advisory body and has no power to enforce. Many leaders (like Trump) reject and resent its existence.
Thank goodness my hubby got online and booked our boosters when he did,just got an NHS invite,(had boosters last weekend) says nearest place is Orpington, Greater London,55 miles each way!
Sorry, talking at cross purposes I think. I thought the discussion had moved onto how the UK records Covid deaths - and what method was used (ie the death-within-28-days).
Obviously the numbers matter - but it was obvious from the outset that some countries were better placed than others to collect the data. And there were always going to be countries who manipulated the data for whatever reason.
As for the WHO - exactly they advise - https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/estimating-mortality-from-covid-19 - it would seem sensible to me, that as much as the gov follows the local science here, that globally, some standard is adopted for recording the data - whether the country is capable or wants to adopt a standard is a different matter. Until that happens, the numbers will invariably vary wildly.
Edited: >> In the UK - << I understood excess deaths in the early part of Covid, but as soon as we hit winter, it lost me a bit, as unless it catered for the drop in other causes (ie flu and other respiratory illnesses) then Covid would have been understated, but then maybe there were more other deaths caused by illnesses not being picked up (ie strokes, heart attacks, cancer).
Unless there's another way, I'm not sure I see a way or accurately recording Covid deaths.
Edited: As a global guide, excess deaths presumably still gives the best indication of the ramifications of covid?
The Dimbleby lecture was given by the lead of the Oxford group. She described in detail why and how they were able to move so quickly. Worth pointing any sceptics towards it as it shows just how much hard work they did. It was aired last night BBC 1, so I guess it will be on i player.
I really don’t know, and no one I speak to seems to either. My own feeling is under reported??
My daughter thinks that as well, How do they record the deaths that happen after 28 weeks, at the beginning people were on ventilators or in hospital for up to 6 months?
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
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My own feeling is under reported??
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.