So, exactly how many people have actually died of covid? Of covid, mind you. Not “with” covid. Not “covid-related”. Of covid, and nothing else?
Um… look! Over there! A war in Eastern Europe!
(Are they distracted, yet? Okay, let’s just slide out the new data and hope everyone’s too busy yammering about the Bad Russian Man to notice.)
The number of deaths clearly caused by COVID-19 is 34, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield has revealed, as the Government changes its “reporting approach”.
So… this is an admission that their previously reported deaths weren’t necessarily “clearly caused by Covid-19”?
Well, if you’re the smart, discerning type who reads the BFD, you’ll already know that that’s precisely the case. We’ve long reported that purported covid deaths have been inflated by dodgy reporting procedures that automatically classed anyone who died within 28 days of testing positive for covid as a “covid death”. That included people run over by cars or shot in the head. Indeed, almost no “covid deaths” have occurred without the presence of at least one co-morbidity.
New Zealand is still going to use the same, deeply flawed methodology.
From today we will be moving to a new reporting approach. We will automatically report all who die within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19,” Dr Bloomfield said in Wellington.
“This is the approach that’s used by the UK and many other countries and is the one that we will and have used for our official reporting to the World Health Organisation.”
There will be one major change, though. One which should put the actual threat of covid into some perspective.
Reported COVID-related deaths will now be split into those clearly caused by COVID-19, those who died with COVID-19 but for whom the virus was not the cause of death, and those with COVID whose cause of death is still under investigation.
The impact of the changes is immediate and sobering.
The number of people for whom it is clear COVID-19 was the cause of death is 34.
Which immediately halves New Zealand’s supposed toll of “covid deaths”, as counted by the CDC and the WHO.
Hospitalisations have similarly been over-exaggerated.
Of the official 742 COVID-related hospitalisations reported on Wednesday, it’s possible that only about 556 – or 75 percent – are actually seeking treatment for the virus, based on trends in Auckland.
“It’s possible.” This isn’t hard data, then: it’s Bloomer’s “I Just Reckon”.
“We are developing a way to collect and report this data. We have one estimate that about three-quarters of reported hospitalisations are due to COVID-19 symptoms and the rest have COVID-19 ‘incidentally’. This is similar to the proportions reported from a US hospital study published last week.
“In countries like Denmark currently it is about 60 percent to 70 percent. The Ministry of Health is also unable to comment on whether hospitalised people have COVID-19 or other symptoms as we do not hold that level of detail about patients.
Even of those, some at least catch covid while they’re in hospital; they weren’t admitted to hospital because of covid.
“There have been several outbreaks in hospital wards, which can contribute to COVID-19 hospitalisation numbers. For some of these cases, they contracted COVID-19 from an exposure in hospital. For this reason, hospitals are now routinely screening all patients being admitted.”
Dr Bloomfield said it has been difficult to obtain the data because the reason for a patient’s admission to hospital is recorded when they are discharged.
It comes after COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins told AM on Thursday the Government did not have data on how many COVID-related patients in hospital were there for virus-related symptoms as opposed to other health issues.
NewsHub
So, the claims of “hospitals overwhelmed by covid” is just another in the litany of lies from “your sole source of truth”.
Why should you believe anything these people say, anymore?