![]() ![]() The ratios we present are more clinically consistent with frontline conditions than ratios that compare COVID-19 fatality counts and estimated seasonal influenza deaths. 6 As the CDC continues to revise its COVID-19 counts to account for delays in reporting, the ratio of counted COVID-19 deaths to influenza deaths is likely to increase. 7 For the week ending April 11, 2020, data indicate that the number of provisionally reported COVID-19 deaths was 14.4-fold greater than influenza deaths during the apparent peak week of the current season (week ending February 29, 2020), consistent with the ranges based on CDC statistics. The CDC also publishes provisional counts of COVID-19 deaths but acknowledges that its reporting lags behind other public data sources. 7 These statistics on counted deaths suggest that the number of COVID-19 deaths for the week ending April 21 was 9.5-fold to 44.1-fold greater than the peak week of counted influenza deaths during the past 7 influenza seasons in the US, with a 20.5-fold mean increase (95% CI, 16.3-27.7). 6 The mean number of counted deaths during the peak week of influenza seasons from 2013-2020 was 752.4 (95% CI, 558.8-946.1). 5 The reported number of counted deaths from the previous week, ending April 14, was 14 478. As a result, the more valid comparison would be to compare weekly counts of COVID-19 deaths to weekly counts of seasonal influenza deaths.ĭuring the week ending April 21, 2020, 15 455 COVID-19 counted deaths were reported in the US. Conversely, COVID-19 fatalities are at present being counted and reported directly, not estimated. 4 On average, the CDC estimates of deaths attributed to influenza were nearly 6 times greater than its reported counted numbers. 3 Over that same time period, however, the number of counted influenza deaths was between 3448 and 15 620 yearly. 2 Between 19, the reported yearly estimated influenza deaths ranged from 23 000 to 61 000. The CDC, like many similar disease control agencies around the world, presents seasonal influenza morbidity and mortality not as raw counts but as calculated estimates based on submitted International Classification of Diseases codes. The root of such incorrect comparisons may be a knowledge gap regarding how seasonal influenza and COVID-19 data are publicly reported. Yet public officials continue to draw comparisons between seasonal influenza and SARS-CoV-2 mortality, often in an attempt to minimize the effects of the unfolding pandemic. The demand on hospital resources during the COVID-19 crisis has not occurred before in the US, even during the worst of influenza seasons. This apparent equivalence of deaths from COVID-19 and seasonal influenza does not match frontline clinical conditions, especially in some hot zones of the pandemic where ventilators have been in short supply and many hospitals have been stretched beyond their limits. This number appears to be similar to the estimated number of seasonal influenza deaths reported annually by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ( ). Shared Decision Making and CommunicationĪs of early May 2020, approximately 65 000 people in the US had died of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), 1 the disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). ![]() ![]() Scientific Discovery and the Future of Medicine.Health Care Economics, Insurance, Payment.Clinical Implications of Basic Neuroscience.Challenges in Clinical Electrocardiography. ![]()
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