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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The CDC published some good graphics today to help people get a visual for how bad is the covid pandemic. Here it is:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm#dashboard">https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm#dashboard</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><img border=0 width=815 height=412 style='width:8.4895in;height:4.2916in' id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image003.jpg@01D67FDC.74FCB720"><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The above data is USA. We see that there is access deaths there, looks like it peaked in the second week of April and has been higher than normal for 27 weeks. That week ending middle of August, the most recent on for which we have data, is looking promising.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>There is something else in that report I have been wondering about: we know that comorbidities are usually listed on death certificates. So if we had a pile of death certificates in which covid is listed as a cause of death, how many had no other cause? <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Answer… 6%<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I had kinda imagined it higher than that.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The average number of other causes of death was 2.6 besides covid.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Here’s the comment:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;background:white'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'>Comorbidities</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:black;background:white'>Table 3 shows the types of health conditions and contributing causes mentioned in conjunction with deaths involving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:black;background:white'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#Comorbidities">https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#Comorbidities</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I have some pondering to do.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>