According to statistics Canada, flu & pneumonia killed 8,500 people in 2018.
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310039401
How does this compare to the COVID death rate?
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/coronavirustracker/
COVID does not need to be the cause of death to be included in the COVID death count.
According to the CDC, only 6% of COVID deaths can be attributed to COVID alone; the other 94% had 2 – 3 additional causes of death, on average.
At best, this means that COVID-19 is typically only deadly for patients who are already suffering from several health problems (similar to the seasonal flu). Alternatively, since anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 at the time of death is counted as a COVID-19 death (see above, and see here and see here), COVID-19 may not have contributed to these deaths at all.
Original CDC report here: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm
The CDC explains that for people 65 years and older, COVID-19 hospitalization rates are similar to recent high severity flu seasons. They also explain that for children under 18 years old, hospitalization rates for COVID-19 are lower than they are for flu.
First reported here: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/cdc-equates-coronavirus-hospitalizations-seasonal-flu-finally-admits-much-less-dangerous-children/
Original CDC source (page 2): https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/pdf/covidview-05-01-2020.pdf
Deaths for COVID-19 are being lumped together with deaths from influenza and pneumonia. COVID-19 deaths only are far lower than media reports.
Also notice the “percent of expected deaths” column, which shows that deaths from all causes in each week in 2020 are lower than total deaths from the same week in previous years.
Halfway through he includes charts of seasonal flu deaths each year, showing that COVID deaths are in line with deaths from a typical flu season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ODBTdNiG0The video above has been censored by YouTube. But you can see Denis Rancourt’s other research and commentary here.
Fox News interview with a doctor who explains that doctors are pressured to report more COVID deaths; the criteria for reporting COVID deaths are different from the criteria for reporting any other disease (such as influenza), thus creating over-inflated numbers.
USA Today confirms with a dozen different sources that hospitals are being paid more for COVID-19 related pneumonia compared to non-COVID-19 pneumonia. Some excerpts from the article:
Jensen said in the video: “Hospital administrators might well want to see COVID-19 attached to a discharge summary or a death certificate. Why? Because if it’s a straight-forward, garden-variety pneumonia that a person is admitted to the hospital for — if they’re Medicare — typically the diagnosis-related group lump sum payment would be $5,000. But if it’s COVID-19 pneumonia, then it’s $13,000 and if that COVID-19 pneumonia patient ends up on a ventilator it goes up to $39,000.”
This higher allocation of funds has been made possible under the CARES Act through a Medicare 20% add-on to its regular DRG payment for COVID-19 patients, as verified by USA TODAY through the American Hospital Association Special Bulletin on the topic.
At the end of the clip, the doctor even tries to justify this obvious deception by arguing: “But you can actually argue that it could have been COVID-19 that caused him to crash”
Full 52 minute video here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfLVxx_lBLU&feature=youtu.be
Shortened clips in the article below. Some excerpts:
“Is the flu less dangerous than covid? Let’s look at the death rate – no it’s not. They’re similar in prevalence and death rate. So we’re saying that our response now, now that we know the facts is it’s time to get back to work”
“ER doctors now, my friends and I talk to say “you know, when I’m writing up my death report, I’m being pressured to add COVID. Why is that? Why are we being pressured to add COVID? To maybe increase the numbers and make it look a little bit worse than it is? I think so”
“This is not about science and it’s not even about COVID. When they use the word ‘safe’…that’s about controlling you.”
“On re-evaluation by the National Institute of Health, only 12 per cent of death certificates have shown a direct causality from coronavirus, while 88 per cent of patients who have died have at least one pre-morbidity – many had two or three,” he says.
This is good news – this shows that the virus is incredibly common, and very rarely has ill effects. This shows that the mortality rate is very, very low.
So ask yourself – why is this being framed as a bad thing? And why are we seeing such a huge focus on the number of cases reported in the news – instead of deaths?
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-prisons-testing-in-idUSKCN2270RX