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ASPartOfMe
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18 Apr 2021, 4:45 pm

jimmy m wrote:
I suffered a major stroke two weeks ago. It affected me in two ways. My eyes changed. My right eye decided it was time for a vacation and shifted over to my left eye. So both my eyes became left eyes. The doctors figured out this problem and it was not difficult to fix. I blinded my left eye for around five days a week and my right eye began to move back about ten degrees per day. After 4 days it moved around 40 degrees and my eyesight returned somewhat back to normal.

The second way it affected me was my ability to read. This is really strange. I cannot read but I can still write. So right after the stroke, I couldn't read a single word. I lost around 300,000 words in a few minutes. What is so strange is that I can still write. I cannot read but I can write. Strokes can be really strange. As time went on I have been slowly beginning to learn to read again. But it will be a slow journey. After a few days I began to recognize my name. Then the next day my wife's name. Initially it took me 20 hours to read one word. But I am improving and can read a word in 1 to 2 minutes now. Still slow but it is a start. Strokes affect people differently. In my case this is the major affect. It will probably take me around 6 months to return back to normal or at least somewhat close to normal. It could be worse, far worse.

Now I think this stroke was a function of age and not COVID related. After all I am 72 years old and this condition affects old people. I came home around 3 days ago after spending a week and a half in the hospital. It will be a slow process.

If you can read this, I am sorry this happened to you, hopefully, your recovery will be faster and more extensive than it looks like at the moment.


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19 Apr 2021, 9:59 am

jimmy m   please   recover   well.


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20 Apr 2021, 8:48 am

Disinfecting surfaces to prevent Covid often all for show, CDC advises

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The risk of surface transmission of Covid-19 is low, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. Far more important is airborne transmission -- and people who obsessively disinfect surfaces may be doing more harm than good..

"CDC determined that the risk of surface transmission is low, and secondary to the primary routes of virus transmission through direct contact droplets and aerosols," Vincent Hill, Chief of the Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch, said on a CDC-sponsored telephone briefing.

Hill said the risk of transmission from touching a surface, while small, is elevated indoors. Outdoors, the sun and other factors can destroy viruses, Hill said.

The virus dies "rapidly" on porous surfaces but can persist longer on hard, indoor surfaces.

In most situations, cleaning surfaces using soap or detergent, and not disinfecting, is enough to reduce the already low risk of virus transmission through surfaces," Hill said. "Disinfecting surfaces is typically not necessary, unless a sick person or someone positive for Covid-19 has been in the home within the last 24 hours."
Hill said cleaning should be focused on high-contact areas such as doorknobs and light switches.

Frequent cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces may have minimal impact on viral transmission and contribute to "hygiene theater," he added.

"Putting on a show" to clean and disinfect "may be used to give people a sense of security that they are being protected from the virus, but this may be a false sense of security, if other prevention measures like wearing masks, physical distancing, and hand hygiene are not being consistently performed," Hill said.

"It also could make people feel less need to engage in these other important prevention measures."

Additional data shows that the disinfectants themselves may pose a risk.

"Public inquiries indicate that some people may purposely drink, inhale, or spray their skin with disinfectants, without understanding that use of disinfectants in this way can cause serious harm to their bodies," he said.

Hill cited CDC research from June of 2020 showing that, of those people surveyed, "only 58% knew that bleach should not be mixed with ammonia, because mixing bleach and ammonia creates a toxic gas that harms people's lungs."

Nineteen percent wash food products with bleach, which could lead to their consumption of bleach that isn't washed off, which can damage the body because bleach is toxiC.


Vindication for Jimmy M. I wish he were able to read this, I wish it were he posting this, not me.


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23 Apr 2021, 6:45 pm

CDC panel recommends U.S. resume use of J&J Covid vaccine, saying benefits outweigh risks

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A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel on Friday recommended the U.S. resume using the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, saying the benefits outweigh the risks.

Members of the panel didn’t recommend U.S. regulators restrict the use of the vaccine based on age or gender, but they did propose that the FDA consider adding a warning label for women under age 50.

The recommendation, which was adopted 10-4 with one abstention, by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, will pave the way for U.S. regulators to lift their recommended pause on using the J&J shot as early as this weekend.


Japan declares virus emergency in Tokyo as Olympics near
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Japan has announced emergency Covid measures in Tokyo and three other areas in a bid to curb rising infections, just three months before the country is set to host the Olympics.

The government said the state of emergency - set to last for about two weeks - would be "short and powerful".

Under the measures, bars will be required to close and big sporting events will be held without spectators.

The government has insisted that the Olympics will go ahead in July.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced the measures on Friday, saying they would begin on Sunday and remain in place until 11 May. In addition to Tokyo, the prefectures of Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo will be affected.

It marks the third state of emergency in Japan since the pandemic began.

“I sincerely apologise for causing trouble for many people again," he said. "It is feared that contagion in major cities will spread across the whole country if we take no measures."

Under the rules, major commercial facilities like department stores will close, as well as restaurants, bars, and karaoke parlours serving alcohol.

Restaurants that do not serve alcohol are being told to close early, and companies are being asked to make arrangements for people to work remotely. Schools will remain open.

The emergency measures coincide with the country's "Golden Week" holiday, which runs from late April to the first week of May and is the busiest travel period of the year.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike urged residents to start taking precautions immediately.

The coronavirus toll in Japan has been much lower than in many other countries, with about 558,000 cases and fewer than 10,000 deaths, according to figures collated by Johns Hopkins University.

But there are concerns over the latest rise in infections, with reports of hospital bed shortages in some areas.


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25 Apr 2021, 2:26 pm

India sets Covid-19 infection record for fourth straight day with hospitals desperate for oxygen

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India reported 349,691 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, the fourth day in a row the country has set a world record for daily infections during the coronavirus pandemic, according to government and scientific tallies.

The country also reported its highest daily death toll for the ninth consecutive day, adding 2,767 fatalities in the past 24 hours.

The country of 1.3 billion people has logged over a million new cases in the past three days, bringing its pandemic totals up to 16.9 million recorded cases of the coronavirus, including 192,311 deaths.

The sky-rocketing Covid-19 infections are devastating India's communities and hospitals. Everything is in short supply -- intensive care unit beds, medicine, oxygen and ventilators. Bodies are piling up in morgues and crematoriums, and authorities have been forced to hold mass cremations at makeshift sites.

Just six weeks ago, India's Health Minister declared the country was "in the endgame" of the Covid-19 pandemic.

But Sunday's numbers, which represent the highest caseload recorded in a single day anywhere in the world, according to a CNN tally of figures from John Hopkins University, tell a different story.

Germany and South Korea announced new travel restrictions for India starting Sunday amid growing international concern over the B.1.617 coronavirus variant first detected in the country, which includes a number of mutations. The Indian Health Ministry has said such mutations increase infectivity and aid in escaping immune response.

India's second wave, which began in mid-March, comes as the country makes headway with its vaccination program. On Saturday, the health ministry said it had administered more than 140 million doses of vaccines against Covid-19 -- and 2.4 million of those were in the past 24 hours.

Despite administering the most number of coronavirus vaccines in the world after the United States and China, India ranks lower than many countries in per capita vaccination, according to CNN data.

The country on Monday announced that those aged 18 or older will be eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine starting May 1. Private vaccination providers will also be able to charge and provide vaccines.

In his monthly radio program, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday stressed the importance of getting vaccinated and referred to the second Covid-19 wave as a "storm" that had "shaken the nation."

"I'm speaking to you at a time when Covid-19 is testing our patience and capacity to bear pain. Many of our loved ones have left us in an untimely way. After successfully tackling the first wave, the nation's morale was high, it was confident. But this storm has shaken the nation," Modi said.

While state ministers and local authorities had been warning about the second wave and preparing action since February, there appears to have been a vacuum of leadership within the central government, with Modi staying largely silent on the situation until recent weeks.

As Covid-19 cases surge and India continues to face severe oxygen shortages, private companies are stepping in to offer their support.

Bolding=mine

U.S. pledges medical aid for India to combat surge
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The U.S. is pledging immediate medical aid to India to help combat its surge in coronavirus cases.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke by phone Sunday with his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, and expressed sympathy and support.

According to the White House statement, the U.S. is “working around the clock” to immediately deploy to India drug treatments, rapid diagnostic Covid-19 testing kits, ventilators and personal protective equipment and will seek to provide oxygen supplies as well.

The White House says it had identified sources of raw material urgently needed for India’s manufacture of the Covishield vaccine and will make that available. The U.S. also intends to pay for an expansion of manufacturing capability for BioE, the vaccine manufacturer in India, so it can ramp up and produce at least 1 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of 2022.

A team of U.S. public health advisers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and USAID will also be sent to assist Indian officials.


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25 Apr 2021, 4:30 pm

Progress of COVID Inoculations

According to the coronavirus vaccine tracker, the U.S. has now administered 228.7 million vaccine doses with around 42.2% of the U.S. population vaccinated (with at least one dose) / 28.5 fully vaccinated. In the United States. an average of 2.75 million doses were injected daily.

Globally 1,025.3 million vaccine doses have been given with the U.S., China and India in the top three positions.

Source: COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker


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25 Apr 2021, 4:32 pm

Millions missing 2nd vaccine dose, despite most getting both rounds: CDC

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When it comes to vaccinations, the vast majority of U.S. patients are rolling up their sleeves for two rounds, according to data released Sunday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, according to the data, there is still work to be done, as millions of people have potentially missed the recommended window for their second shot.

A CDC report on vaccine completion status through April 9 showed that 92% of people who had one dose of an mRNA vaccine received their second shot during their scheduled windows. About 8% of patients -- roughly 5 million people -- may have missed their second dose, according to the report.

The percentage of people not getting their second dose more than doubled from 3.4%, the CDC reported from data gathered through mid-February. However, the agency said that jump was to be expected as eligibility and access increased.

Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor, said it's not immediately clear why so many people aren't showing up for their follow-up visits, but there could be a few factors.


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25 Apr 2021, 4:33 pm

jimmy m wrote:
Progress of COVID Inoculations

According to the coronavirus vaccine tracker, the U.S. has now administered 228.7 million vaccine doses with around 42.2% of the U.S. population vaccinated (with at least one dose) / 28.5 fully vaccinated. In the United States. an average of 2.75 million doses were injected daily.

Globally 1,025.3 million vaccine doses have been given with the U.S., China and India in the top three positions.

Source: COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker

How are you doing?


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28 Apr 2021, 8:01 am

India passes 200,000 Covid-19 deaths as new cases spike to record highs

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India passed 200,000 Covid-19 deaths Wednesday, becoming only the fourth country to do so, as it battles a devastating second wave of infections.

The surge in new infections has stretched hospitals across the country to a breaking point, with widespread shortages of medical oxygen and beds. Patients and their loved ones desperately search for hospitals with intensive care units that can make room for them, turning to social media to find access to vacant beds and oxygen online.

Increased infections are not only overwhelming the hospitals, but also crematoriums which are running out of space. Funerals are being held in nearby parks, parking lots and other temporary cremation grounds — images of bodies burning on rows of funeral pyres have been seen around the world.

India, the world’s second most populous country, reported 360,960 new Covid infections on Tuesday, again breaking a record for the highest single-day figure globally, according to data from the Indian Ministry of Health. Overall India has recorded 17.9 million cases, second only to the United States with more than 32 million cases.

Tuesday was also India's deadliest day of the pandemic so far, with 3,293 deaths. Experts fear the official tally vastly underestimates the real death toll in a nation of over 1.35 billion people.

Dr. Siddharth Sridhar, a clinical virologist from the University of Hong Kong’s Department of Microbiology, told NBC News that the spike in cases can be attributed to a very unfortunate combination of events.

“You had very large public events going forward both in terms of election rallies as well as religious gatherings,” he said.

“When you have that number of people coming together with evidence that mask-wearing and social distancing not being followed, it would really serve as an impetus for transmission.”

Dr. Sridhar added that there is some uncertainty surrounding the new variant of the virus being increasingly detected in some parts of India, but it is hard to say how much that contributes over and above the human factors of large crowds gathering together with limited infection control measures.

In the past month, India has seen mass gatherings in religious congregations like the weeks-long Kumbh Mela in Haridwar as well as in the assembly elections in the state of West Bengal.


As India's Covid crisis and variant spreads, neighboring countries go on high alert
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As India continues to grapple with an unrelenting second wave of Covid-19, some neighboring countries in South Asia are seeing their own surges in case numbers, prompting border closures and travel bans.

But given the speed and severity with which the second wave has devastated India, countries are taking no chances, with many implementing travel bans and suspending flights from India.

In an address Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that should the Indian variant arrive in Iran, the country "will have a big problem."

India shares land borders with Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Some of these borders are porous, with residents crossing back and forth every day.

Several of these countries are grappling with their own surges in case numbers, despite closing borders and imposing restrictions. Nepal, which has identified cases of the Indian variant, has limited health care infrastructure and access to life-saving resources, raising fears it is ill-equipped to deal with a massive outbreak like the one ravaging India.

Nepal, which borders India's northeast, had seen case numbers begin to fall in February, with newly identified cases hovering between 50 to 100 each day. But infections erupted in mid-April as India's second wave picked up speed -- and daily cases are now in the thousands.

The outbreak is so far centered in the capital Kathmandu, and the border city of Nepalgunj in Lumbini Province.

The rise in cases is partly due to Nepalis returning from India, said Dr. Krishna Prasad Poudel, director of the country's Epidemiology and Disease Control Division. Several variants, including the ones first detected in India and the United Kingdom, have been detected in Nepali patients. Other contributing factors could be the open markets, crowded public spaces, and festivals where people celebrated without maintaining public health precautions, he added.

In an effort to curb the spread of the disease, the government has imposed local lockdowns in a number of cities that go into effect on Thursday, and will last for 15 days.
But hospitals are already feeling the strain. Bheri Hospital, located in the hotspot city Nepalgunj, is seeing patients fill up hospital beds while oxygen supplies are depleting.
"Now the hospital beds are full, this is the beginning of another wave," said Dr. Sher Bahadur Pun of the Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital in Kathmandu.

Bangladesh, to the east of India, also saw its cases start to surge in March, reaching a peak in early April that far exceeded all previous waves. But cases have since fallen, with authorities imposing a strict lockdown and suspending air travel.

Oxygen supplies are also running low in Pakistan, which borders India to the west. Cases there began creeping up in early March, accelerating toward the end of the month in tandem with India's outbreak.

The country reported 201 deaths on Wednesday -- its highest single-day Covid death toll yet. More than 88,000 cases are still active.

The country's ministry of health confirmed that it has not yet identified a case of the Indian variant. All types of travel from India have been banned since April 19.

In response, the government called in the military to help enforce Covid-19 guidelines, and imposed a number of new restrictions including closing outdoor dining, gyms, and schools through grade 12. The country is also banning all tourism and inter-provincial travel during the Eid holidays in May, one of the most important festivals of the Islamic calendar.


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28 Apr 2021, 8:11 am

Hey Jimmy,

I sense that you will recover at least most of your "lost" abilities in no time.

Just wanted to say that I'm in your corner.



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29 Apr 2021, 6:33 pm

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Flu Has Disappeared Worldwide during the COVID Pandemic

The public health measures that slow the spread of the novel coronavirus work really well on influenza

https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... E5NDc2MAS2



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30 Apr 2021, 5:36 pm

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Few Would Fear COVID Vaccines if Policy Makers Explained Their Risks Better

https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... MwMTI3MQS2



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01 May 2021, 6:06 am

India coronavirus: Over-18s vaccination drive hit by shortages

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India has become the first country to report more than 400,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day, as its nationwide vaccine drive launches amid a supply crisis.

Some 3,523 deaths were officially recorded in the past 24 hours - but the real figure is thought to be far higher as many fatalities go unreported.

As of today, all adults in India are eligible to be vaccinated.

But several states say they do not have the doses to carry out the exercise.

India had previously focused on vaccinating frontline workers and the over-45s. The country is facing acute shortages of medical oxygen and hospital beds, as a devastating second wave of coronavirus batters its health system.

About 150 million shots have been given, equivalent to 11.5% of India's 1.3 billion people.

Despite being the world's biggest producer of vaccines, the country is suffering an internal shortage and has placed a temporary hold on all exports of AstraZeneca to meet domestic demand.

More than 13 million people aged 18-45 have registered for the jab, but states including central Madhya Pradesh and hard-hit Maharashtra have said they will not start vaccinating this age group on 1 May as planned due to supply problems.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked people not to queue up for injections as the Indian capital had not yet received doses.

At one hospital in Delhi, several people died on Saturday when critically ill patients were left without oxygen for about 80 minutes before re-supply tankers arrived, according local media reports.

Vijay Gupta, 62, was gasping for air outside a hospital in the south-east of India's capital because all of its beds were full.

"We have been roaming around since 6am looking for a bed," a friend told Reuters. "Where shall we go?"

Also on Saturday, a fire at a hospital in the western city of Bharuch killed 12 people - the latest in a number of deadly hospital fires across the country this week.

India has been using two vaccines - the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab (known locally as Covishield) and another made by Indian firm Bharat Biotech (Covaxin).

The Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine has also been approved for use, and the first doses are expected to arrive on Saturday. It's not yet clear how large the shipment will be.

Earlier this week, Brazil's health regulator refused permission for Sputnik V to be imported there, citing concerns about its development and safety. The vaccine's developer called the move political and said it would sue the regulator.


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01 May 2021, 1:16 pm

jimmy m wrote:
I suffered a major stroke two weeks ago. It affected me in two ways. My eyes changed. My right eye decided it was time for a vacation and shifted over to my left eye. So both my eyes became left eyes. The doctors figured out this problem and it was not difficult to fix. I blinded my left eye for around five days a week and my right eye began to move back about ten degrees per day. After 4 days it moved around 40 degrees and my eyesight returned somewhat back to normal.


So sorry to hear this Jimmy! Thinking of you and wishing you the best possible recovery. Hope your wife is coping alright too. Thanks for being able to let us all know. Behind you 100%.



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03 May 2021, 6:15 pm

New York metro area states lift capacity restrictions while Oregon shuts back down

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New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, once the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S., announced Monday that shops, restaurants, theaters and other businesses will be allowed to operate at full capacity starting May 19.

"It's a smart reopening. It's a measured reopening," said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. "Today is a milestone for New York State and a significant moment of transition."

Museums, restaurants, retail businesses, gyms and hair salons can fully reopen in the three states as long as space is available to maintain six feet of social distance.

The reopening is a huge turnaround from more than a year ago, when New York City was the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis, reporting nearly 5,500 cases and more than 600 deaths per day. A record 635,000 jobs were lost in New York in 2020 and the pain of the city's economic downturn is evident in endless closed storefronts.

It's not just the Northeast that's getting back to normal. On Monday, Florida's governor ended all state COVID restrictions.

But as much of the nation is opening back up, nearly half of Oregon is shutting back down due to one of the largest increases in infections in the country. It comes after Oregon had for months one of the lowest infection rates nationwide.

"This virus is like a sucker punch. You never know when it's going to get you," Oregon Governor Kate Brown said.

The surging numbers have triggered Brown to declare 15 counties an "extreme risk," banning all indoor dining and limiting gyms and indoor entertainment spaces to only six people at one time.

"The variants are extremely transmissible," Brown told CBS News about what went wrong.

The more transmissible variant, first identified in the United Kingdom, now accounts for about half of the cases in the state, with more young people hospitalized than ever.

Vaccines have been available to every Oregonian older than 16 for two weeks. The hope is that as vaccination numbers rise, infections will drop.

If numbers go back down, Brown is hoping to lift the new restrictions by July 1.


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09 May 2021, 7:30 pm

New Study Estimates More Than 900,000 People Have Died Of COVID-19 In U.S.

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A new study estimates that the number of people who have died of COVID-19 in the U.S. is more than 900,000, a number 57% higher than official figures.

Worldwide, the study's authors say, the COVID-19 death count is nearing 7 million, more than double the reported number of 3.24 million.

The analysis comes from researchers at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, who looked at excess mortality from March 2020 through May 3, 2021, compared it with what would be expected in a typical nonpandemic year, then adjusted those figures to account for a handful of other pandemic-related factors.

The final count only estimates deaths "caused directly by the SARS-CoV-2 virus," according to the study's authors. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19.

Researchers estimated dramatic undercounts in countries such as India, Mexico and Russia, where they said the official death counts are some 400,000 too low in each country. In some countries — including Japan, Egypt and several Central Asian nations — the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's death toll estimate is more than 10 times higher than reported totals

The group reached its estimates by calculating excess mortality based on a variety of sources, including official death statistics from various countries, as well as academic studies of other locations.

Then, it examined other mortality factors influenced by the pandemic. For example, some of the extra deaths were caused by increased opioid overdoses or deferred health care. On the other hand, the dramatic reduction in flu cases last winter and a modest drop in deaths caused by injury resulted in lower mortality in those categories than usual.

Researchers at UW ultimately concluded that the extra deaths not directly caused by COVID-19 were effectively offset by the other reductions in death rates, leaving them to attribute all of the net excess deaths to the coronavirus.

"When you put all that together, we conclude that the best way, the closest estimate, for the true COVID death is still excess mortality, because some of those things are on the positive side, other factors are on the negative side," Murray said.

Experts are in agreement that official reports of COVID-19 deaths undercount the true death toll of the virus. Some countries only report deaths that take place in hospitals, or only when patients are confirmed to have been infected; others have poor health care access altogether.

The revised statistical model used by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation team produced numbers larger than many other analyses, raising some eyebrows in the scientific community.

"I think that the overall message of this (that deaths have been substantially undercounted and in some places more than others) is likely sound, but the absolute numbers are less so for a lot of reasons," said William Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvard University, in an email to NPR.

Last month, a group of researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University published a study in the medical journal JAMA that examined excess mortality rates in the U.S. through December.

While that team similarly found the number of excess deaths far exceeded the official COVID-19 death toll, it disagreed that the gap could be blamed entirely on COVID-19 and not other causes.

"Their estimate of excess deaths is enormous and inconsistent with our research and others," said Dr. Steven Woolf, who led the Virginia Commonwealth team. "There are a lot of assumptions and educated guesses built into their model."

Other researchers applauded the UW study, calling the researchers' effort to produce a global model important, especially in identifying countries with small reported outbreaks but larger estimates of a true death toll, which could indicate the virus is spreading more widely than previously thought.


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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman