California’s Alameda County has revised its coronavirus death toll, reducing the number of people whose deaths had been attributed to the virus by around 25 percent after adjusting parameters for what was considered a COVID-related death.
Previously, the county was counting people as part of its COVID death toll if they died when infected with the virus – even if they died in an obviously unrelated matter, like in a car accident. This will put Alameda County in line with state guidelines. “Although the COVID-19 pandemic has caused nearly 600,000 deaths in the United States, the vast majority of infections do not result in death, and deaths due to other causes while infected with COVID-19 are not uncommon,” the county said in a news release, explaining the change.
After reassessing, they announced on Friday that they had reduced that by 441, making the updated tally 1,223. By Sunday, the total was 1,268. The reassessment was brought in to bring the county in line with the California Department of Public Health’s guidance on how to classify deaths. The updated numbers would not have made any difference to the lockdown as the lockdown guidelines were based on cases and not deaths.