Only 6% of COVID-19 Deaths in the US Were Caused by Coronavirus? Here's the Truth Behind the False Claim Doing Rounds on Social Media

Amongst various false claims doing rounds on social media about COVID-19, one of them says that  "only 6%" of the reported COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are caused solely because of the coronavirus. It states that coronavirus on its own is only responsible for 6 percent of the total reported deaths. However, it is not true. It started off when on Aug 26,  the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) posted a breakdown detailing the comorbidities and other contributing factors that act as the death in people losing their lives due to COVID-19 in the United States. However, it is important to pay attention that the CDC says, "For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned." And when they say the only cause, they don't count comorbidities. But many posts shared on social media presented it in a way that reflected COVID-19 was only responsible for 6 percent deaths. The other deaths were also caused by a coronavirus, except they had comorbidities that shortened their lifespan when they got COVID-19.

To be precise, only 6% of people who died when they had COVID-19 didn't have underlying conditions, such as diabetes, asthma or heart disease or other medical complications, such as kidney failure or sepsis. But the rest of the 94% of deaths were still caused by COVID-19. Underlying conditions make it difficult for the person to recover from COVID-19.

About the treatment procedures, new studies confirm that multiple types of steroids improve survival for severely ill COVID-19 patients, cementing the cheap drugs as a standard of care. An analysis of pooled results from seven studies, led by the World Health Organization and published Wednesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that steroids reduced the risk of death in the first month by about one-third compared to placebo treatment or usual care alone in these seriously ill patients who needed extra oxygen.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 03, 2020 01:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).