FRIDAY, Sept. 4, 2020 (Healthday News) — Rumors suggesting that COVID-19<\/a> deaths in the United States are much lower than reported are due to people misinterpreting standard death certificate language, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> official says.<\/p>\n Social media conspiracy theories claiming that only a small percentage of people reported to have died from COVID-19<\/a> actually died from the disease have cited death certificates that list other underlying causes, CNN<\/i> reported.<\/p>\n But that doesn’t mean the patients did not die from COVID-19<\/a>, said Bob Anderson, chief of mortality statistics at the CDC.<\/p>\n “In 94% of deaths with COVID-19<\/a>, other conditions are listed in addition to COVID-19<\/a>. These causes may include chronic conditions like diabetes<\/a> or hypertension<\/a>,” Anderson explained in a statement, CNN<\/i> reported. “In 6% of the death certificates that list COVID-19<\/a>, only one cause or condition is listed,” he noted.<\/p>\n “The underlying cause of death is the condition that began the chain of events that ultimately led to the person’s death. In 92% of all deaths that mention COVID-19, COVID-19 is listed as the underlying cause of death.”<\/p>\n As of Aug. 22, CDC data show that 161,392 death certificates listed COVID-19 as a cause of death. As of Sept. 2, there had been more than 185,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University, which uses independent data, CNN<\/i> reported.<\/p>\n Other top U.S. health officials have said that CDC COVID-19 death data are accurate.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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