COVID-19 Reporting

Are COVID-19 Deaths Being Underreported?

I've read articles and heard commentary that C-19 deaths are being underreported, and conversely overreported. Most likely,
- the truth lies somewhere in between.
- reporting will have more to do with how the medical community reports the deaths, interpreting rightly or wrongly the actual cause of death and how significant a role C-19 contributed to their demise. Certainly, there will be some inconsistencies.
Disclaimer:
- I take no sides and have no medical, politcal nor social ax to grind.
- I'm not convinced it matters so much whether deaths related directly to C-19 are being overestimated or underestimated.
- Either way, it does not alter my much larger concern with following the guidelines and doing my part to help reduce the spread of this deadly virus.
Below are just a few examples of those suggesting we might be overreporting C-19 deaths. To suggest their perspectives and opinions are not based in science might be a tough sell and I fail to see the benefit of attempting to do so. My point is, there's certainly disagreement within the medical community regarding the accuracy of reporting.

Nina Schwalbe, member of the Council on Foreign Relations; Principal Visiting Fellow, United Nations University International Institute for Global Health, reported "We could be vastly overestimating the death rate for COVID-19. Here's why".

Nina Schwalbe

Nick Triggle, BBC medical reporter, wrote that there "will be a substantial overlap" in reporting C-19 deaths because of other medical conditions that played a more significant role in their deaths. "Many people who die of Covid [the disease caused by coronavirus] would have died anyway within a short period."
"Coronavirus: How to understand the death toll"
E.g., if an 80-year-old terminally ill cancer patient already in the hospital catches this virus and dies, will the death get reported as COVID-19 or complications due to advanced cancer? You can flip a coin because it will depend on who's filling out the death certificate.

Nick Triggle

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but we should be careful lest our biases cloud our objectivity, causing the line between fact and opinion to blur.

The Thinker

"But scientists, who ought to know,
Assure us that it must be so.
Oh, let us never, never doubt
What nobody is sure about."
-- Hilaire Belloc

Hilaire Belloc
1870-1953
British-French writer
and historian