Two peer-reviewed research studies featuring in an NPR report confirm COVID-19 mortality rates are falling. The researchers obtained their data from two large hospital systems, and say the trend is partly down to improving treatment. Therefore, we cannot automatically assume the big drop in COVID-19 death rates is as great in less sophisticated environments. None the less this is a positive sign we are making progress with taming the virus.
All Patient Groups Show Big Drop in COVID-19 Death Rates
The fall in death rates is across the board in all patient groups. Older patients and those with co-morbidities are reaping the benefits too, says Leora Horwitz from New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine. She was part of a study team analyzing thousands of patient records from March to August 2020.
Bill Mateen of Alan Turing Institute in United Kingdom hails this as silver lining in a cloud of many deaths. He researched 21,000 hospitalized cases in England, and found a big drop in COVID-19 death rates there too. In fact, the improvement was 20% better than the worst dark days of the pandemic.
The Factors Influencing This Positive Trend in Covid-19 Mortality
NPR News reports several factors have come into play and are positively influencing morbidity rates. Doctors are doing things differently with the benefit of hindsight. Breathing assistance through ventilation has become less routine, in order to protect COVID-19 damaged lungs.
Health carers are better at spotting impending blood clots, and cytokine storms when the immune system gets out of hand. Beyond hospitals, face masks and distancing are reducing the overall dose of virus. The average age of patients is falling as the infection demographic shifts towards the healthier youth.
Our takeaway must be rigorously maintaining those preventative measures, especially among younger people who shun them for whatever reason. ‘Coronavirus is not a benign illness,’ Leora Horwitz writes. Many people will continue to die even though the death rate has fallen.
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