[Epoch Times] The number of COVID-19 deaths in Alameda County, California, fell by about 25 percent after health officials changed their methodology for total mortality count, removing deaths that weren’t a "direct result" of the disease or "in whom death caused by COVID-19 could not be ruled out."Amazing. That they admitted it.
"Alameda County previously included any person who died while infected with the virus in the total COVID-19 deaths for the County," the county’s public health department said in a statement (pdf). For example, someone who tested positive for the virus before dying in a car accident would still have been counted toward the COVID-19 death toll.
And your rationale for that method would be?
"Aligning with the State’s definition will require Alameda County to report as COVID-19 deaths only those people who died as a direct result of COVID-19, with COVID-19 as a contributing cause of death, or in whom death caused by COVID-19 could not be ruled out," the health officials said, noting that their system of reporting COVID-19 deaths on the dashboard and to the state was implemented early in the pandemic, before the state established guidelines for how deaths should be classified.
So we chose a method that would impact Trump's re-election, of course.
Related:
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COVID-19 deaths: 2021-04-02 Jordan's Cabinet Dissolves Local, Municipal Councils
COVID-19 deaths: 2021-05-12 University of Washington study suggests COVID-19 deaths far higher than official reports
COVID-19 deaths: 2021-05-06 Number Of Seniors Tapping Social Security Plummets As 'Excess Deaths' Spike During Pandemic
COVID-19 deaths: 2021-04-02 Jordan's Cabinet Dissolves Local, Municipal Councils