COVID-19 Update: Wednesday, September 2nd

The 94% Conspiracy

Let’s discuss the 6% / 94% confusion because it is causing quite the stir. First, let me start by clarifying that the CDC did not reduce the death rate by 94% - that statement represents either gross misunderstanding or willful misleading.

From the onset of this outbreak, the CDC has been telling us that having an underlying health issue could increase your risk of dying from COVID. Diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes, for example, will increase the likelihood that you will die if you get COVID just as having high blood pressure will increase the risk that you can die from a stroke.

Recently the CDC released the most updated data showing the breakdown of that effect. Essentially looking at which co-morbidities (meaning, what other health issues) raise your risk of dying from COVID the most. They found that of out everyone who died of COVID in the United States, 94% of them had an underlying health issue, the other 6% had nothing wrong with them other than COVID. The 94% seems to be causing angst for people so let’s discuss it for a minute.

From the beginning, we have been aware that certain things raise your risk of severe COVID and/or death from COVID. The CDC data of 94/6 simply quantifies that. 94% of people who die from COVID had some health issue that put them in the high-risk category. Saying that is not the same as saying they died of something else and just happened to have COVID. This goes back to the whole cause of death discussions we had early on. If you have diabetes, for example, and get COVID, your chances of dying from COVID are much higher than if you have no health issues. But we are not saying people who died from diabetes complications died from COVID. Had they not gotten COVID, would they have died that day? Rest assured, if you have had high blood pressure for years and then have a stroke and die, it was the stroke that killed you. Just as, if you have high blood pressure and then get COVID and die, it was the COVID that killed you. Was the high blood pressure a factor? Absolutely. It increased the risk that you would die. But the fact that you had high blood pressure does not negate the fact that you died from COVID.

This seems like a good time to also remind you that only 7% (rounded) of total deaths in the US this year have been attributed to COVID. 7% is hardly an example of “everything” being called COVID but it does represent the third leading cause of death in the US. Remember that when the cause of death is recorded (COVID) they also record contributing factors (high blood pressure) which is how we even got this information.

In summary, the data from the CDC simply says, that having an underlying health condition significantly increases your risk of dying if you get COVID as evidenced by the fact that 94% of all COVID deaths had an underlying health condition. This is not new information just solid numbers to support the information we already knew.

FINAL THOUGHTS: We have made it halfway through the week and what a week. As I think about Labor Day and what I may do this year to celebrate in our revised version of the world, it made me wonder why we don’t celebrate more. Especially this year. We don’t need a holiday to celebrate the little victories. Look around you today and find all the small things that are going right, the things that are easy, the things that don’t suck your energy out. You may have to start really small, like finding toothpaste in your medicine cabinet or the wonderful aroma of coffee in the morning. But find those things. Celebrate them. Use the million little things that are right to help offset the handful that aren’t. Let it seep in and change your mindset. Celebrate those things. Give thanks for every single thing that goes right today. Did the car start? Celebrate. Did you find clean clothes in your closet? Celebrate. Let today be a day of celebration. A day focused on the abundance we have and all that is right instead of what isn’t.