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The study, which was of a single health system, finds that mortality has dropped among hospitalized patients by 18 percentage points since the pandemic began. Patients in the study had a 25.6% chance of dying at the start of the pandemic; they now have a 7.6% chance.
That's a big improvement, but 7.6% is still a high risk compared with other diseases, and Horwitz and other researchers caution that COVID-19 remains dangerous.
The death rate "is still higher than many infectious diseases, including the flu," Horwitz says. And those who recover can suffer complications for months or even longer. "It still has the potential to be very harmful in terms of long-term consequences for many people."
As stated in another thread, we are learning as we go. Treatment today is much better than it was 8 months ago
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Gates adds that the takeaway definitely should not be to cast the mask aside. There is still no cure for this disease, and even patients who recover can have long-term side effects. "A lot of my patients are still complaining of shortness of breath," she says. "Some of them have persistent changes on their CT scans and impacts on their lung functions."
Just because treatment options are much better, don't forget that the virus is still here and will still be here for a long while
Like most headlines today, this one was generated by an author who either didn't care about reading the actual studies, or has an agenda, or both. The "Study" was written in June - using data comparing the worst weeks in NYC to the following weeks. The English study was similar - through May.
The Big Drop happened then - not now. It's possible that "lesser sick" folks were sent home in the early days, because the hospital was overwhelmed, but now routinely are admitted, because there's plenty of room.
Studies Point To Big Drop In COVID-19 Death Rates
Read the conclusion carefully. They are not saying you are less likely (necessarily) to die of COVID now, although that is undoubtedly true - they are saying - IF you got admitted in MAY - you had a better chance of dying than if you got admitted in JUNE. IF you got admitted. NOT if you got sick. If you got admitted. See the difference?
The overall death rate - estimated by the CDC - has gone UP since summer, not down. Still quite low.
It's good news, although I worry about capacity in hospitals. If the hospitals are free (not at capacity), combined with better understanding of treatment strategies, I agree that your chances of survival are much better now. But in places where cases are surging and hospital capacity is an issue, the efficiency of deploying treatment is likely to be hampered. So the benefits of better understanding how to treat, may not improve survival.
Looking at the number of reported daily cases and deaths in Europe lately compared to US, it appears that they are doing an outstanding job with limiting deaths per case. So, we're doing better and they're doing much better.
Probably many factors at play here, such as: Younger cohort constitute a larger percentage of those being infected (vulnerable people are running scared and protecting themselves), more infections are identified quickly so more admissions to hospital earlier in illness, and of course a bit better treatment protocols with less reliance on ventilators. Use of ventilators actually may have increased death rate early in pandemic.
My 4 year old nephew goes to pre-K and 2 students in his class tested positive for covid and he lives in Ohio. the school mandated everyone get tested and quarantine for 14 days. His results come back tomorrow. His school is closed for the next 3 weeks. I don't agree there is a huge drop in covid cases and I am in NY but there is a slight improvement. My husbands co-worker's daughter teaches on LI and she was diagnosed 2 days ago with Covid-19. so her whole family must quarantine now.
She was already working from home since March so no chance of her infecting other co-workers and my husband works from home since march as well. I think this is going to get worse again.
My 4 year old nephew goes to pre-K and 2 students in his class tested positive for covid and he lives in Ohio. the school mandated everyone get tested and quarantine for 14 days. His results come back tomorrow. His school is closed for the next 3 weeks. I don't agree there is a huge drop in covid cases and I am in NY but there is a slight improvement. My husbands co-worker's daughter teaches on LI and she was diagnosed 2 days ago with Covid-19. so her whole family must quarantine now.
She was already working from home since March so no chance of her infecting other co-workers and my husband works from home since march as well. I think this is going to get worse again.
Children are more likely to die from the flu.
Why wasn't every child tested and quarantined for .... forever ... during every prior flu season?
But what are their outcomes? That's what I want to know. There are people who survive it but take months to get back to normal. People who survive it but have a stroke. People who survive it but probably have long-lasting effects from the immune response (with a family history of autoimmune disorders, I do *not* want anything that triggers an overreaction of my immune system and hence quite possibly triggers me into lifelong debilitating illnesses).
Are we forgetting that this illness isn't an either/or situation? It's not either "you die" or "you sniffle a bit and then get better." There's plenty of in-between, and plenty of the "in-between" is not pretty.
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Originally Posted by newtovenice
Children are more likely to die from the flu.
Why wasn't every child tested and quarantined for .... forever ... during every prior flu season?
But children pass on illnesses to other people... and it's well known that children are germ factories who both don't take precautions about picking things up, and don't take precautions about passing it on. So, the kid doesn't die, but they come home and pass it on to Mom and Dad and Grandma (who possibly might take it work or the grocery store before they know they're sick...). Why do people assume kids get it and aren't contagious?
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