Worldometers logged the latest deaths from the coronavirus at 3,393, 335 on May 17, 2021. The numbers for United States and Brazil are 600,147 and 435,823 respectively. While India, Mexico, and Italy are 274,411, 220,433 and 124,679 each. The COVID-19 death statistics that keep climbing overshadow the individuals who died.
The Individuals Who Died Matter: Who Among Us Could Be Next?
We should not let these numbers obscure the fear of leaving life early, or the pain of those remaining behind. Moreover, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) suggests we may be underestimating these deaths by up to 57%. Now IHME is a research institute assessing global health and impact at the University of Washington in Seattle.
We therefore have to take it seriously and evaluate what it says. NPR News reported May 6, 2021 the actual U.S. death toll may have topped 900,000. While the true global mortality may be closer to 7,000,000. We can quibble over the details of how COVID-19 death statistics keep climbing. But the fact is we need to know what is going on.
What’s Behind the COVID-19 Death Statistics That Keep Climbing?
The IHME report goes into considerable detail, and you can follow the link below to unpack the data. However, the human factors behind the under-count are of greater immediate interest to us. The researchers say the underlying cause is official statistics only include ‘deaths caused directly by the SARS-CoV-2 virus’, which is not the true picture.
But, they reasoned the missing data must lie somewhere. And they found it in the excess mortality data. CDC defines this as ‘the difference between the observed numbers of deaths in a specific time period, and what we might have predicted statistically. We can quibble over the numbers, but we believe the COVID-19 under-count is clearly there.
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Setting COVID-19 Deaths in Context
Preview Image: Global Estimated COVID-19 Deaths
