When you look at one set of raw data on its own and compare it to previous years rates, 2020 looks pretty bad and it's not great, but also not that extra ordinary compared to previous years when you take population size into account.BlackDiamond wrote: ↑Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:09 pmLooking at the maths, is it the case roughly speaking that extra yearly deaths increased by one/seventh from the normal ten-year average. Not disputing the 125K covid dead that is the widely quoted total.Whiskyman wrote: ↑Mon Mar 15, 2021 11:18 am
A completely non scientific explanation for the spike. Winter. More people , particularly the elderly and the sick, die in winter. Whether it's covid, flu or even hypothermia that's the cause.
Not sure how reliable comparison with other countries is tbh. Different ways of interpreting statistics and different qualities of healthcare, some worse, some better, than the UK for different death rates could be an explanation I guess.
It's clear that covid has had a major impact, but so has the grossly unproportuionate reaction to the risk posed for the majority of the nation.
https://fullfact.org/online/death-rate-2020-2003/
Another question that has been widely asked is whether or not numerous deaths have been claimed due to covid, that in previous years would have been recorded as heart attack or pneumonia etc.