Study: US COVID Deaths Likely 16% Higher Than Official Records
A new study has found that far more COVID-era excess deaths in the US could be attributed to the infection, which would mean the number of COVID deaths was at least 16% higher nationally than the official tally....
Facts
- A new study has found that far more COVID-era excess deaths in the US could be attributed to the infection, which would mean the number of COVID deaths was at least 16% higher nationally than the official tally.1
- The study, published in the American journal PNAS, observed 1,194,610 excess natural-cause deaths between March 2020 and Aug. 2022, of which 162,886 were not attributed to COVID.2
- The overall national rate of non-COVID-to-COVID excess deaths was 15.8 per 100 overall and 36 in non-urban areas; 31.6 in western Rocky Mountain states; 25.5 in Pacific states, 26 in East South Central states, 25 in South Atlantic states, and 24.2 in West South Central states.2
- The researchers believe this was caused by a lack of both testing and knowledge of symptoms at the beginning of the pandemic, as well as varied systems of counting deaths at state and local levels due to the politicization of the pandemic.1
- The study also found that the total number of excess deaths in the first year of the pandemic was almost equal to the number in the pandemic's second year, arguing that this was due to the COVID infection rather than disruptions to the healthcare system.2
Sources: 1The Guardian and 2PNAS.
Narratives
- Narrative A, as provided by BU. This data finally shows the reason behind the mysterious uptick in excess deaths during the pandemic - which turns out not to be that mysterious at all. From government officials down to their constituents, many Americans declined to or were encouraged not to count family deaths due to political reasons. Instead, they pointed to things like drug overdoses as the reason for rising excess fatalities. In reality, public health bodies were insufficient in their counting and thus trivialized the dangers of COVID's lethality.
- Narrative B, as provided by New York Post. The nation's experts who claimed COVID deaths were skyrocketing for three years eventually backtracked, admitting that they were overcounting by 70%. Even the strongest proponents of the original COVID excess death theory, including national public health officials and reporters, have now admitted that those who died 'with' COVID were lumped in with those who died 'from' it. This context is essential.
