As America Shuts Down Again, Data Reveals Plummeting COVID Death Rates
COVID-19 death rates are falling in the United States as treatments advance, infectious disease experts told The Wall Street Journal.
Data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington shows that the virus is killing about 0.6 percent of those infected, The Journal reported Tuesday.
The death rate has improved since April, when COVID-19 was killing about 0.9 percent of those infected.
There have been 260,322 reported COVID-19 deaths in the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, and the U.S. has reported over 12.5 million cases of the virus.
Columbia University infectious disease modeler Jeffrey Shaman told The Journal that the current death rate may be much lower than what the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has reported, suggesting that it could be about 0.15 percent.
Seasonal influenza has a 0.1 percent death rate.
The improvement in the death rate may be due to the shift in infections to younger people, experts told The Journal. They also said the improvements may be linked to improved patient management and treatment.
Doctors have discovered less invasive ways to oxygenate patients and do not need to rely on mechanical ventilation, according to The Journal.
IHME director Christopher Murray said that anti-clotting drugs and the steroid dexamethasone has probably contributed to the death rate improvement.
Even as the death rate falls, however, officials across the country are reimposing the strict lockdown measures of the spring.
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