Using data from the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC), a recent Johns Hopkins study found that the number of U.S. deaths from all causes have averaged about the same over the years, increasing modestly as the population grew.
As one would expect, the study found that Covid-19 deaths reported in 2020 had a substantial spike. But unexpectedly, the number of reported deaths from heart disease, cancer, and other morbidities declined in 2020. The declines, significantly greater than those of previous years, just about matched the increase in Covid-19 deaths. Overall, the number of deaths remained about the same.
The study concluded that the deaths were misclassified. Non-Covid deaths were wrongly reported as Covid deaths.
The Johns Hopkins study was withdrawn, supposedly because it “spread misinformation about the pandemic.” But the data is readily available. An equal-level analysis could be done to provide more data and thus a new conclusion. So far, no such analysis has appeared.
Not mentioned in the article is a likely reason for the misclassifications: The federal government pays hospitals $13,000 for each Covid-19 admission and $39,000 when a Covid-19 patient goes on a ventilator. This conflict of interest has probably caused the over-reporting of Covid deaths and under-reporting of other deaths.
The impact of Covid-19 has thus been wildly overstated. Many Americans wrongly believe that Covid death lurks around every corner.
While Covid-19 has not caused an increase in overall deaths, the lockdowns certainly have. Medical procedures postponed, suicides, substance abuse, alcoholism; all these are up. Mental and physical health is down.
The government probably did not expect its Covid-19 hospital payments to have such deleterious effects. But nearly always, the hidden hand of government unintentionally causes more harm than good.
