Deaths That Occur Years After COVID-19 May Be Attributed to Disease: CDC

The so-called “long COVID” can still be considered a cause for death, even if the deceased had not been tested for COVID-19 for many months or years. This is according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest update.

“When completing the death certificate, certifiers should carefully review and consider the decedent’s medical history and records, laboratory test results, and autopsy report, if one is available. For decedents who had a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and were diagnosed with a post-COVID-19 condition, the certifier may consider the possibility that the death was due to long-term complications of COVID-19, even if the original infection occurred months or years before death,” The CDC stated in updated guidance COVID-19 death certification.

“Long COVID,” COVID-19 post-acute sequelae refers to the long-term effects of COVID-19.

New evidence indicates that SARS-CoV-2 may be the virus that causes COVID-19. “can have lasting effects on nearly every organ and organ system of the body weeks, months, and potentially years after infection,” According to the CDC, its latest update.

The agency cited several papers. One paper was published in its quasijournal. found Some individuals reported experiencing problems after two months of testing positive for COVID-19. Two others Round-ups were done of all the existing literature “long COVID.” The CDC also referred to a U.S. National Institutes of Health webpage More information on this subject.

A healthy, 48-year old man suffered from fatigue and respiratory problems after taking COVID-19. While the man improved gradually, certain symptoms remained. Imaging revealed that there was heart inflammation.

After suffering from severe heart failure, the man passed away in hospital several months later.

The certificate listed heart failure; cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disease; myocarditis, the heart inflammation; and post-acute sequelae of COVID-19. It was this certificate that started the chain of events.

The Epoch Times was told by Dr. Thomas Gilson that this scenario is reasonable.

“That’s kind of the crux of the matter—when I’m certifying a death is, can I really trace things back logically to the COVID infection and then the consequences of the infection,” Gilson.

He said that in some cases, the examiners wouldn’t list post-acute sequelae.

“The trouble with this is how accurate are the death certifications and COVID. This is a longer standing problem than COVID that sometimes, we don’t always … see people certifying deaths going all the way back to the real initial cause,” Gilson. “The longer I think there is between an inciting event and a person passing away, the more likely it is that sometimes those things don’t make it onto the death certificate.”

A range of twenty to thirty percent have death certificates. “issues with completeness,” According to the CDC. According to the CDC, more than three quarters of all death certificates in 2018 had been issued with an “A” designation. “unsuitable” Oder “ill-defined” CDC Researchers: The underlying causes of death have said.

Is it too many deaths?

The CDC has acknowledged It does not include COVID-19 hospitalizations.

The CDC claims that its death statistics are correct.

Only deaths are included in the death count “in which COVID-19 played a meaningful role,” In a statement, the CDC stated that they had just released a new report.

Some U.S. deaths labeled as from COVID-19, though, are due to unrelated causes such as car accidents and gunshots. The CDC says that a death can be from COVID-19 even if a person didn’t test positive, provided “circumstances are compelling within a reasonable degree of certainty.” Researchers, such as a Danish one, are also interested in the topic. found COVID-19 death includes deaths where the deceased had COVID-19.

“Incidental conditions or findings are not supposed to be reported on death certificates,” A spokesperson for the CDC previously spoke to The Epoch Times.

Some deaths due to COVID-19 could have been caused by other factors, if a COVID-19 diagnosis or test was not available.

CDC had multiple occasions during pandemics removed deaths Initially, COVID-19 was cited as the cause. However, data issues later led to these actions being attributed.

Deaths Attributed to ‘Long COVID’

The CDC already attributed thousands of deaths to the so-called COVID-long, however the new guidance might lead to an increase of COVID-19 post-acute sequelae on the death certificates.

“There may be cases where somebody has (or believes they have) long COVID. They go on for years and suddenly they die of something. And then the doctor may decide to call this a ‘COVID death.’ That could raise some issues, certainly,” The Epoch Times spoke with Daniel Halperin who is an epidemiologist at North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health.

“Now, when a clinician genuinely feels the person who’s got these ongoing series of symptoms started with a COVID illness, and that person eventually does die, well yes it could make sense to call that a death from COVID. But, statistically speaking, how many cases are there like that?” He added.

Halperin (who wrote in January This “misclassified hospitalizations obviously suggest there have also been miscategorized deaths,” The official death count will likely rise with the new guidance, which is something that the experts said would be very interesting to observe.

The updated guidance says that certifiers should only include post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 on a certificate if it caused or contributed to a death.

Gilson, an Ohio medical examiner said that the sequelae of deaths resulting from car accidents and other causes unrelated to the accident should not have been listed.

“Long COVID doesn’t belong on that death certificate,” He said. “It doesn’t contribute to the person dying; they died from their injuries in the car accident. I would leave it off. It may underestimate how well we track long COVID as a problem in the community but it wouldn’t lead to an overcounting of the death unless the death certificate was filled out improperly.”