I have added a video showing the CDC Pneumonia and Influenza Weekly Deaths web site as it is (was) on April 15, 2020. In this video I show the different web site sections I have discussed, download the NCHSData14.csv weekly deaths data file, go through the analysis briefly in a spreadsheet, and show the difference between the numbers in 2017 in the file and the Final Death (Leading Causes of Deaths) numbers in 2017.
The weekly pneumonia and influenza deaths data shows fewer deaths in weeks one through thirteen, the latest week in the file ending March 28, 2020, than in the comparable weeks in 2019 — last year. This despite the COVID-19 pandemic, lack of testing in the United States, asymptomatic carriers, and other issues.
The weekly pneumonia and influenza deaths data also show about 188,000 deaths from pneumonia and influenza in 2017, over THREE TIMES the about 55,000 deaths listed as “influenza and pneumonia” in the 2017 leading causes of death.
NOTE: If you are concerned about these odd numbers, please consider sharing the original post and/or this one by e-mail, a link on your web site or blog, or other methods in addition to advertising-funded and other big company social media. My original post of this on Hacker News soared for a few hours and then was flagged and shut down, for example. I have also encountered social media mobs that engage in name calling and do not address the substantive issues.
It seems likely to me that the CDC web site will change in response to questions about the confusing numbers and language. Hopefully, the CDC will clarify the language and numbers in an open, “transparent,” and genuinely honest way that survives critical scrutiny. Especially given the life and death situation.
Original Post: Uncounted COVID Deaths? The CDC’s Contradictory Pneumonia and Influenza Death Numbers
(C) 2020 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.
About Me
John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).