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CDC report on coronavirus deaths underlines why COVID-19 is so dangerous

31 August 2020
 Dan Ackermann

A new Centers for Disease Control report shows 94% of people who died after contracting COVID-19 had contributing health conditions.

Our thought bubble, via Axios' Sam Baker: This report doesn't mean that COVID isn't as bad as we thought. It's clear from the CDC's statistics on excess deaths that more people are dying than usual, because of COVID. The fact that common pre-existing medical conditions often coincide with deadly coronavirus infections is part of what makes it scary — not a reason to write it off.

The big picture: The cause of death was listed as solely the novel coronavirus in 6% of cases in the U.S. from Feb. 1 to Aug. 22, according to the CDC.

  • For deaths with conditions or causes as well as the novel coronavirus, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death.

Of note: The CDC reports the leading underlying medical conditions related to coronavirus deaths:

  • Influenza and pneumonia.
  • Respiratory failure.
  • Hypertensive disease.
  • Diabetes.
  • Vascular and unspecified dementia.
  • Cardiac arrest.
  • Heart failure.
  • Renal failure.
  • Intentional and unintentional injury, poisoning and other adverse events.
  • Other medical conditions.

By the numbers: In the U.S., more than 183,000 deaths have been attributed to the coronavirus as of Sunday night, per Johns Hopkins data.

  • Almost 6 million have tested positive and over 2.2 million have recovered.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.