It’s hard to believe that after six years this trope is back yet again. It’s a false argument that people just happened to have COVID but something else killed them but was coded as a COVID death.
First, take a look at a pretty standard section of a death certificate.
Box 32 is important. Part I provides the sequence of events that lead to death. COVID would be listed toward the bottom of Part I if it leads to renal failure, respiratory failure, or some other immediate cause of death. This might be one source of the confusion and/or misinformation. If COVID is listed in this section, it was a major part of the sequence that led to the death.
Part II is where comorbidities would be listed. This would be things like diabetes, renal failure, cancer, or other things that were not part of the direct cause of death. For example, if cancer was what led to the death, it would be listed in Part I.
Some of this misinformation must originate from not understanding the difference between Part I and Part II.
COVID death statistics are compiled in the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS). COVID must be listed in Part I of the death certificate to be coded as a COVID death. That directly counters the “with versus from” claim.
This isn’t just the case for the US either. The WHO uses standardized ICD‑10 coding (U07.1/U07.2 – these are the codes for lab confirmed and clinically diagnosed). COVID death reports to the WHO require the death to be and underlying cause, not an incidental infection. This standard is used internationally.
Another argument against this false narrative is that the curves for cases and deaths are strongly correlated, particularly prior to the implementation of vaccines. I created this graph early in the pandemic and uses a derivative to smooth the rates of increasing and decreasing cases and deaths in Michigan. Other states have similar correlations. These curves would not correlate using the “with” argument.
Another piece of evidence against this false claim is that global excess deaths correlated with COVID surges.
Most people spreading this claim are just parroting lies spread by minimizers. They likely have never seen a death certificate or looked at legitimate COVID data.
