This is correct but equally people who tested positive more than 28 days ago but then die are not included. A study of 40 000 people with covid-19 discharged from hospital for 140 days found a readmission rate of 31% (23% within 60 days), with 9% dying on readmission - I suspect that more than compensates for those who tested positive but died other reasons. In the early days some people died from covid without having a test and were therefore excluded.
Anyway perhaps a more reliable data source is the ONS which does not have a test cut off date. It relies on death certificates where covid 19 is mentioned. 90% of these mentions are in part 1 - ie the cause or causes that led directly to death as opposed to contributing to it. Before anyone decides to criticise certification they should know that death certification is a serious matter and is done diligently and under strict professional standards that would be subject to serious disciplinary consequences if done carelessly.
ONS deaths where covid is mentioned (up to 5th Feb) = 119,222
Gov.uk reported numbers (up to 5th Feb) = 111,264
Even if you discount ALL of the secondary ONS Death certificate mentions (so excluding your bus example) you only get down to 107,000 which is near as dammit the same as the government reported figures. My conclusion is that there is not very much mileage in disputing either of these numbers
[/quote]Interesting article in Mail this weekend when one of there reporters' father was found to have Covid 19 recorded on his death cert as being the cause of death despite having tested negative 3 times in the care home. When challenged the doctor admitted that he had recorded Covid as there were several such deaths in the care home and assumed his chronic and well documented lung condition had been Covid. I just wonder how many have actually died of Covid rather than with Covid. I still suspect a lot less than the figures show.
Anyway perhaps a more reliable data source is the ONS which does not have a test cut off date. It relies on death certificates where covid 19 is mentioned. 90% of these mentions are in part 1 - ie the cause or causes that led directly to death as opposed to contributing to it. Before anyone decides to criticise certification they should know that death certification is a serious matter and is done diligently and under strict professional standards that would be subject to serious disciplinary consequences if done carelessly.
ONS deaths where covid is mentioned (up to 5th Feb) = 119,222
Gov.uk reported numbers (up to 5th Feb) = 111,264
Even if you discount ALL of the secondary ONS Death certificate mentions (so excluding your bus example) you only get down to 107,000 which is near as dammit the same as the government reported figures. My conclusion is that there is not very much mileage in disputing either of these numbers
[/quote]Interesting article in Mail this weekend when one of there reporters' father was found to have Covid 19 recorded on his death cert as being the cause of death despite having tested negative 3 times in the care home. When challenged the doctor admitted that he had recorded Covid as there were several such deaths in the care home and assumed his chronic and well documented lung condition had been Covid. I just wonder how many have actually died of Covid rather than with Covid. I still suspect a lot less than the figures show.
