https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/05/autopsies-covid-19-patients-reveal-clotting-concerns
https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/covid-19-what-the-autopsies-reveal/
COVID-19 Autopsies, Oklahoma, USA
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32275742/
https://www.tctmd.com/news/german-covid-19-autopsy-data-show-thromboembolism-heavy-lungs
Pulmonary and Cardiac Pathology in Covid-19: The First Autopsy Series from New Orleans
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.06.20050575v1
Pulmonary post-mortem findings in a large series of COVID-19 cases from Northern Italy
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.19.20054262v1
Autopsy Report Of First COVID-19 Death In U.S. Shows Woman Had Massive Heart Attack
Pathological study of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) through postmortem core biopsies
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41379-020-0536-x
Autopsies provide crucial information for fighting COVID-19
https://www.popsci.com/story/health/autopsy-covid-lessons/
Autopsy slowdown hinders quest to determine how coronavirus kills
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01355-z
Immune mechanisms of pulmonary intravascular coagulopathy in COVID-19 pneumonia
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanrhe/article/PIIS2665-9913(20)30121-1/fulltext
Post‐mortem examination of COVID19 patients reveals diffuse alveolar damage with severe capillary congestion and variegated findings of lungs and other organs suggesting vascular dysfunction
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/his.14134
Autopsy in suspected COVID-19 cases
https://jcp.bmj.com/content/73/5/239
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Overcounting Covid Deaths Greatest Hits | Added May 22
Most of the media reports you’ll hear are saying that Covid deaths are undercounted and the situation is much worse than anyone thinks. We’ve been tracking the problem of over-reporting, however. Much of this relates to the polymerase chain reaction “test” that is being used to “diagnose” a “case” but which in reality is doing no such thing.
PCR seems to be a work of fiction. So without any real knowledge of what a case is, and lots of people having a little dab of whatever up their nose, and therefore testing “positive,” we have no actual idea who is carrying the infection that may not be an infection. This is called the Gold Standard issue. A lot of people have written about it. This deserves a better explanation in writing — we will get to it. For a short, pleasant intro and an introduction to the one and only Kary Mullis, inventor of the PCR, this video will be instructive.
Then there are various medical, accounting and political problems, which you will read about here. This collection does not include the reports of doctors who say they were pressured to say a particular death was from Covid when they did not know, or when it was from another illness.
Our concern is that this crisis is being spun into something that it’s not, based on a crisis that is different in reality from what is being presented on TV and Twitter. The following seven posts are in this category, all added the evening of May 22.
Italy reevaluates numbers | Added May 22
As early as March Italy’s fatalities were thought to be high, reevaluated and deemed to be lower than initially said.
Why have so many coronavirus patients died in Italy? From the Telegraph:
The coronavirus pandemic is exacting a heavy toll on Italy, with hospitals overwhelmed and a nationwide lockdown imposed. But experts are also concerned about a seemingly high death rate, with the number of fatalities outstripping the total reported in China.
But Prof Ricciardi added that Italy’s death rate may also appear high because of how doctors record fatalities.
“The way in which we code deaths in our country is very generous in the sense that all the people who die in hospitals with the coronavirus are deemed to be dying of the coronavirus.
“On re-evaluation by the National Institute of Health, only 12 per cent of death certificates have shown a direct causality from coronavirus, while 88 per cent of patients who have died
Deborah Birx concerned numbers are inflated| Added May 22
Deborah Birx and a number of officicals that were a part of the White House’s coronavirus response team worried that, due to CDC data, the mortality rate in the U.S. could be inflated up to 25%.
As deaths mount, Trump tries to convince Americans it’s safe to inch back to normal | From the Washington Post:
During a task force meeting Wednesday, a heated discussion broke out between Deborah Birx, the physician who oversees the administration’s coronavirus response, and Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Birx and others were frustrated with the CDC’s antiquated system for tracking virus data, which they worried was inflating some statistics — such as mortality rate and case count — by as much as 25 percent, according to four people present for the discussion or later briefed on it. Two senior administration officials said the discussion was not heated.
Funeral directors doubt Covid claims | Added May 22
A number of funeral directors are suspicious that Covid-19 is being falsely written on death certificates.
Funeral Directors in COVID-19 Epicenter Doubt Legitimacy of Deaths Attributed to Pandemic, Fear Numbers are ‘Padded’ | From Project Veritas:
Project Veritas today released another video featuring conversations with funeral home directors and their staff throughout New York City questioning the number of deaths officially attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In late April, a Project Veritas reporter spoke with Michael Lanza, the director of Staten
Island’s Colonial Funeral Home.
“To be honest with you, all of the death certificates are writing COVID on it, they’re writing
COVID on all the death certificates,” Lanza said.
Colorado Health Department admits to overcounting | Added May 22
Colorado’s recording of fatalities was called into question, after which they admitted to overcounting.
Colorado Health Department Admits It Overcounted Coronavirus Deaths by 24% | From Mercola:
Colorado’s health department is changing the way it records coronavirus deaths after a news story revealed that 24% of the deaths counted so far were not due to the virus. For example, a man who died of alcohol poisoning, but who was found to be carrying the virus, was counted as a COVID-19 death.
Once news reporters questioned the numbers, the health department announced it was adjusting its present counts and changing how they count future deaths. While the state’s chief medical officer said the reporting is “in line with federal guidance and matches how other states are also reporting deaths,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said people want to know who died OF coronavirus, not WITH it.
SOURCES:
Pennsylvania walks back | Added May 22
Pennsylvania added then removed 200 probable Covid-19 death after being called into question.
Pa. removes more than 200 deaths from official coronavirus count as questions mount about reporting process, data accuracy | From The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Twice in the last week, Pennsylvania’s official COVID-19 death count spiked.
Then, on Thursday, the number plummeted.
Officials from the state Department of Health provided several justifications for the fluctuations, citing technical issues, lengthy investigations, and the addition of “probable” deaths — those considered to be caused by the coronavirus but without confirmation from a test.
But facing mounting questions about the accuracy of the count, officials on Thursday removed more than 200 probable deaths from the tally, further complicating the state’s accounting of the pandemic. Health Secretary Rachel Levine said the change was made in an effort to be transparent.
World Economic Forum warns of overstatement | Added May 22
World Economic Forum spoke out in April over the lack of “adequate testing” and how the mortality rate could be overstated as a result.
We could be vastly overestimating the death rate for COVID-19. Here’s why | From World Economic Forum:
- A lack of adequate testing means many of those who have been infected with the coronavirus will not appear in official statistics.
- This suggests that many estimates for its mortality rate are much too high.
- We need to build better systems for sharing and reporting data.
Public health epidemiology is the science of counting to prevent disease and promote health. We count the number of new cases of a particular disease; this is the incidence. Then we count how much a disease has spread in a population; this is the prevalence.
Not a walkback but an analysis | Added May 22
Dr. Judith Curry analyzes the UK model which guided many countries in employing lockdown measures.
COVID-19: Updated data implies that UK modelling hugely overestimates the expected death rates from infection | From Judith Curry:
There has been much media coverage about the danger to life posed by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. While it is clearly a serious threat, one should consider whether the best evidence supports the current degree of panic and hence government policy. Much of the concern in the UK resulted from a non-peer reviewed study published by the COVID-19 Response Team from Imperial College (Ferguson et al 2020[1]). In this article, I examine whether data from the Diamond Princess cruise ship – arguably the most useful data set available – support the fatality rate assumptions underlying the Imperial study. I find that it does not do so. The likely fatality rates for age groups from 60 upwards, which account for the vast bulk of projected deaths, appear to be much lower than those in the Ferguson et al. study.