The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Weekly Index disclosed “[F]or 6% of deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned.”
That means of the 183,000 U.S. deaths attributed to COVID as of the release of this article that 10,980 people died from COVID. The remaining 172,000-plus deaths occurred with COVID.
In a text exchange with Dan Tierney, Press Secretary for Governor Mike DeWine, The Ohio Star asked Tierney if Ohio distinguishes “between someone who dies from the virus and someone who dies with the virus.”
Tierney’s responded, “CDC is entity that has established cause of death reporting guidance. [Ohio Department of Health] ODH has not adopted separate guidance.”
The revelation raises questions about Ohio death tolls and policies.
On Monday, August 31, The Ohio COVID site listed 4,138 deaths. That means if the CDC finding applies in Ohio, the total number of Ohioans who died from COVID is 248 and the number of people who died with COVID totals 3,890.
In the U.S., people who died with COVID on average, had “2.6 additional conditions or causes per death” according to the CDC index.
Per the CDC, the top causes of death with COVID as an accompanying condition are:
- Influenza and pneumonia
- Respiratory failure
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Brain damage and impaired blood flow
- Cardiac arrest
- Heart failure
- Kidney failure
- Suicide, homicide and domestic violence
- Other adverse events – medical treatment mishaps – and other medical conditions
Yet, it is difficult to understand how a drowning, shooting or suicide can be counted as COVID and trumpeted as part of the epidemic’s death toll.
In an interview with The Star, Warren County Sheriff Larry L. Sims said that one of the deaths in his county attributed to COVID is a woman who was in jail that was released and committed suicide. Detractors of the idea that deaths ‘with COVID’ were being counted dismissed the anecdote. Now, it proves true.
People who never showed symptoms of a COVID infection and may have never known they were infected with COVID – but died from other ailments such as suicide, high blood pressure, auto accident, diabetes – are all counted as COVID deaths.
Since the inception of the state’s response to COVID worst-case scenarios have been the guidepost for public policy. In March, Ohio Director of Health (ODH) Amy Acton guided Ohio Governor Mike DeWine in crafting statewide policies based on estimates that at its peak Ohio would record 62,000 COVID cases a day and that 2 million Americans would succumb to COVID.
Acton’s estimates, and exponentially incorrect modeling, were based on the Imperial College Model and ended up being the foundation of ODH orders – orders that multiple courts around Ohio have ruled arbitrary and unconstitutional.
Governor DeWine, with the help of Ohio State University Dr. Andrew Thomas, Chief Clinical Officer, eventually scrapped Acton’s plans and built the Ohio Public Health Advisory System , a forecasting tool based on “what if” instead of “what is” with respect to COVID.
Early requests for compliance revolved around sheltering and shutting down in order to buy time so hospitals could ramp capacity and flatten the curve.
Hospitals not only never came close to capacity – in fact hospital admissions for influenza-like illnesses peaked in February at 1,200 in a week before state intervention – the state continues to act as if COVID is the 1918 Spanish Flu.
The assertion is incorrect on several fronts. The two biggest – COVID does 90% of its fatal damage in people 60 years or older with almost three underlying conditions, whereas the Spanish Flu was fatal to all age ranges; COVID death totals pale in comparison to the 1918 epidemic – one century ago the virus took 675,000 American lives (U.S. population was 103 million).
The most recent information from the CDC regarding annual death numbers in Ohio is from 2017 and is as follows:
- Heart disease – 28,008
- Cancer – 25,643
- Accidents – 8,921
- Chronic lower respiratory disease – 7,312
- Stroke – 6,425
- Alzheimer’s disease – 5,117
- Diabetes – 3,740
- Influenza/Pneumonia – 2,243
- Kidney disease – 2,237
- Septicemia – 2,066
Three days later – after receiving verbal retaliation from some politicians and scientists -CDC Director Robert Redfield walked-back the strength of his Monday comment saying “[t]esting is meant to drive actions and achieve specific public health objectives. Everyone who needs a COVID-19 test, can get a test. Everyone who wants a test does not necessarily need a test; the key is to engage the needed public health community in the decision with the appropriate follow-up action.”
While national spokespersons and political leaders iron-out their ever-changing positions on the virus, one thing is unchanging: policies have wrecked emotional health in our youth, skyrocketed anxiety in adults, crippled entire business segments and left our dying seniors isolated without loved ones.
This is the raw end of the deal for a population that began compliant and has been guilted, shamed and reprimanded while uncovering facts: COVID is not as deadly as initially projected; initial models were embarrassingly wrong; the consequences of COVID policies will damage more people than the virus itself; constituents are required to adjust their lives – with huge emotional and financial losses resulting – while political leaders and government employees are insulated from the need to change course and the comparative economic impact of their policies.
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Jack Windsor is Managing Editor and an Investigative Reporter at The Ohio Star. Windsor is also an Investigative Reporter at WMFD-TV. Follow Jack on Twitter. Email tips to jackw@wmfd.com.
Background Photo “Mike DeWine” by Mike DeWine.
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