COVID and Total Deaths

Skeptical

We read accounts of people dying from diseases or accidents that have nothing to do with COVID, yet because they "tested positive" they are being registered as a COVID death. If this kind of thing happens frequently then obviously the data on COVID deaths would be misleading.

Back in May the Gateway Pundit was skeptical and they published an article essentially saying that the overall death rate during the first four months of 2020 were not significantly higher than what we should expect. They concluded that the COVID pandemic was a lie.

The Gateway Pundit was wrong. CDC data confirms that a significant and historic epidemic did started in the middle of March 2020 and is now ending. This epidemic caused over 200,000 deaths in the United States from a respiratory illness. A large majority of deaths were in those over 70 years old.

There are two graphs from the CDC that accurately show the impact. The first graph (below) shows pretty clearly that toward the end of March deaths from all causes started to rise far beyond what was expected based on historical averages.

The second graph correlates with the first and shows that the increased deaths were almost all caused by a respiratory infection.

The not-so-flat rise in the percentage of all deaths from Pneumonia, Influenza or COVID-19 (PIC) peaked in mid-April (week 16). In that week alone 22,207 people died of PIC* which represented 27.7% of all deaths in the United States.

These two graphs taken together are strong evidence that we had a unique and deadly epidemic caused by an increase in deaths from a respiratory infection. This should silence those who claim that the number of deaths from COVID is in error because of erroneous or fraudulent death certifications.

*A discussion about PIC is a long one, and for the purpose of this article I will be assuming that PIC deaths in 2020 are synonymous with COVID deaths.