[teejers1]

teejers, don't forget that there are severe legal, professional, and financial sanctions placed on any medical professional who falsifies information relating to a cause of death.  This is something no doctor would risk -- in addition, whatever so-called incentives to boost covid mortality numbers would accrue to the hospital corporation and not the doctor, so there is zero incentive for staff to falsify information.

No doctor would take an overdose patient and claim that covid caused the overdose.  I doubt the deceased would even be tested for covid if they were brought in by ambulance and expired in the ER (covid PPE precautions would be taken though).

I believe you; however, the SCC Dashboard (which as I noted previously, is really the only data set I follow) data set uses the term "number of deaths with Covid" - not "deaths caused by Covid."  Moreover, I have a pretty distinct memory that someone here (BC, I believe) posted that if a decedent had tested positive then that would be recorded as a Covid death, regardless of other conditions (including ones that may reasonable be deemed superseding ones).  So, maybe you're right all around in all info being provided; or maybe SCC (and perhaps other counties?) report Covid deaths differently.

I don't know - but I guess I hope your belief applies to SCC info (even if it means the virus is more deadly).  Accurate and readily understandable information is important.

[teejers1]

teejers, don't forget that there are severe legal, professional, and financial sanctions placed on any medical professional who falsifies information relating to a cause of death.  This is something no doctor would risk -- in addition, whatever so-called incentives to boost covid mortality numbers would accrue to the hospital corporation and not the doctor, so there is zero incentive for staff to falsify information.

No doctor would take an overdose patient and claim that covid caused the overdose.  I doubt the deceased would even be tested for covid if they were brought in by ambulance and expired in the ER (covid PPE precautions would be taken though).

I believe you; however, the SCC Dashboard (which as I noted previously, is really the only data set I follow) data set uses the term "number of deaths with Covid" - not "deaths caused by Covid."  Moreover, I have a pretty distinct memory that someone here (BC, I believe) posted that if a decedent had tested positive then that would be recorded as a Covid death, regardless of other conditions (including ones that may reasonable be deemed superseding ones).  So, maybe you're right all around in all info being provided; or maybe SCC (and perhaps other counties?) report Covid deaths differently.

I don't know - but I guess I hope your belief applies to SCC info (even if it means the virus is more deadly).  Accurate and readily understandable information is important.