[pashamur]

Most likely under-reported COVID deaths. Having looked at the Russia data at least, many deaths (earlier on) were marked with "pneumonia" and they didn't even bother testing for COVID.

[jjeaff]

I have found that pneumonia is apparently broadly misunderstood by a lot of people. (It's an inflammatory issue in the lungs, usually caused by a viral or bacterial infection. It is not it's own type of virus.)

We had some family friends that refused to get vaccinated. The wife contracted COVID and then died a few weeks later. When we asked the husband if he was going to get vaccinated, he said no. Because COVID is no worse than a cold. He explained that his wife died from pneumonia, not COVID.

I have seen this repeated a lot when it comes to cause of death. Reports can show things like cardio pulmonary arrest (which means your heart and lungs stopped) complicated by COVID and heart disease or whatever. And then people go away saying well, COVID didn't kill them, it was a cardio pulmonary arrest ... and they had heart disease...

It's amazing how much you can convince yourself of if you want to.

[josephg]

Yep. It’s like saying someone who’s been shot didn’t die from a bullet. They died of internal hemorrhaging. It’s a distinction without a difference.

[jjeaff]

And the shooting victim was older, so, they probably would have died soon anyway.

Or, the shooting victim had preexisting conditions. So it wasn't "just" the gun shot wound that killed them.

[drjasonharrison]

No, they died because they didn't have enough oxygen transported to the brain and internal organs.

[EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK]

It was initially declared that Russia is protected from COVID by God and by mighty Putin. Patriarch drove around Moscow in a Mercedes holding an icon. So doctors were ordered not to write "covid" on death certificates.