[guscost]

> it’s the literal cause of their death

Are you sure about that? Last I heard (from Dr. Birx on TV), many states count anyone with a positive test as a “COVID death”, regardless of what the coroner’s report says.

If we counted deaths for any cold the same way, it would be a shocking (perhaps not as big, but still shocking) number.

> be the good scientist you want to see in this world!

Unfortunately there is no place for a good scientist in most fields, you either play the political game or you get frozen out. I would rather fight to tear the whole system down to its foundations, so more people will have the opportunity to be good scientists in the future.

[germinalphrase]

Does no one - by this logic - ever die of AIDS because it’s something else (like pneumonia) that does them in at the end?

[guscost]

That’s an interesting question. Officially the answer is “no”, but what if someone with AIDS contracts COVID-19 and dies? Does that person count toward both statistics? How many statistics can one death count towards?

Now try “diabetes and hypertension”, or “lung cancer”, or “temporary immunodeficiency” and you can start to see how dishonest it is to represent the death toll of this disease as a single number, based on an interpretation that generates the largest possible number, and an interpretation not used with any other respiratory disease.

[germinalphrase]

Is it the bullet or the blood loss that kills me?

[guscost]

Again, an interesting question. You will find out that a concept like “death toll” does not fit neatly into linear or trivially-nonlinear equations.

[watwut]

You are going to be shocked when you learn how flu deaths are counted. Hint: positive test is not even necessary.

And fascinatingly, you don't worry at all about people who died without test missing from statistics.

[guscost]

Flu deaths are estimated, not counted. Often victims are not tested for it at all.

> And fascinatingly, you don't worry at all about people who died without test missing from statistics.

Actually “presumed COVID deaths” are included in some states’ numbers, but yes there is some undercounting too.