Boston, MA – A groundbreaking study led by the Boston University School of Public Health challenges the conventional narrative surrounding excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The research provides compelling evidence that many deaths previously attributed to natural causes were, in fact, uncounted fatalities from COVID-19. The study’s significant findings bring to light the true toll of the pandemic and shed light on how to accurately account for what happened during this global health crisis.
One of the study’s key findings is the revelation that a significant portion of excess deaths during the pandemic can be directly linked to COVID-19, as opposed to non-COVID natural causes like chronic illnesses. The findings were based on analysis of monthly data on natural-cause deaths and reported COVID-19 fatalities across 3,127 U.S. counties from March 2020 to August 2022.
According to Dr. Andrew Stokes, the temporal correlation between reported COVID-19 deaths and excess deaths reported to non-COVID-19 natural causes offers insight into the causes of these deaths. Peaks in non-COVID-19 excess deaths in the same or prior month as COVID-19 deaths suggest that many deaths were indeed unrecognized COVID-19 fatalities.
The study also disproves any claims that mortality during the pandemic can be attributed to COVID-19 vaccinations or shelter-in-place policies, shedding light on the broader implications of the findings. The research is published in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”
The study’s lead author, Eugenio Paglino, emphasized the importance of the research in shedding light on our understanding of the disease and how we organize our response to future epidemics. The findings underscore the need for accurate detection and assignment of deaths during an epidemic.
Overall, this study is a crucial step in understanding the true toll of the COVID-19 pandemic and the implications for public health interventions. It challenges prevailing narratives about excess mortality, pointing to the need for accurate accounting of deaths in future public health crises.