Longtime readers may remember that I am no fan of “The Morning,” a daily newsletter from the New York Times that has frequently downplayed COVID-19 in recent years. Well, this week, the newsletter has done it again, with a dismissive portrayal of excess deaths data.
This week, a team of demography researchers published a paper sharing excess death estimates by county, for the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The team, led by Andrew Stokes at Boston University, has been analyzing excess death data for years in order to understand the true toll of COVID-19 on the U.S.
On Thursday, the CDC revamped its COVID-19 dashboard in response to changing data availability with the end of the federal public health emergency. The new dashboard downplays continued COVID-19 risk across the U.S., by prioritizing hospitalizations and deaths over other metrics.
You might have seen some headlines like this in the last few weeks: COVID-19 was “mild” this winter. This winter was “better” than previous winters. COVID-19 is becoming “another seasonal virus” like flu and RSV. But looking at the actual data, we can see this is far from the truth.
Sources and updates for the week of January 22 include respiratory virus hospitalizations, new excess death estimates, wastewater testing on airplanes, and more.