[jetpilot]

I agree that the media has contibuted heavily to the panic surrounding this pandemic, but the CDC guidance to hospitals makes perfect sense to me. Why would anyone want to divert medical resources in a hospital that may be overwhelmed by the added work of tending to live COVID-19 patients to perform autopsies to rule out other causes of death if a patient has been diagnosed with COVID-19?

The CDC or anybody else having access to data should be able to obtain a pretty good estimate of the death toll attributable to COVID-19 by comparing the 2019 death statistics to the 2020 numbers and making adjustments based on population growth, average age, etc.

The media always lies with statistics but the CDC should not be making decisions based on how its decisions will be covered by the media. Even with the most detailed autopsies, declaring a single cause of death is often a judgment call when a determination can be made at all. Obviously, if a COVID-19 victim is hit by a bus, then the disease was probably not a contributing factor in his death. If a person suffering chronic asthma throughout her life has been diagnosed with coronavirus and dies, it seems reasonable to assume that the virus caused the death and to move on to the next live patient.

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