"With the nation’s death toll now exceeding 215,000, the coronavirus has killed more people in the United States than anywhere else."
It's problematic because it's not very clear how this number has been calculated. CDC themselves say this about their own number:
"For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death."
Also, from the same page:
"When COVID-19 is reported as a cause of death – or when it is listed as a “probable” or “presumed” cause — the death is coded as U07.1. This can include cases with or without laboratory confirmation."
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm
So, 94% had other additional conditions (including heart disease, diabetes, and sepsis). And even then, not all cases had been confirmed/
It seems to me like 215,000 (probably/presumably) died _with_ COVID-19, but not necessarily from it.
In some countries in Europe, including the UK and some Scandinavian countries (I haven't been able to find the method for US), the number of deaths are counted in the following way:
"Deaths = the statistics on fatalities include deaths recorded within 30 days of the detection of COVID-19 infection in the individual. However, COVID-19 is not necessarily the cause of death."
https://www.sst.dk/en/English/Corona-eng/Status-of-the-epide...
I believe this number was previously 90 days, but in my opinion, it's not a very scientific way to calculate the severity of COVID-19.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying nobody dies from COVID-19. Even numbers from Europe shows this clearly: https://www.euromomo.eu/graphs-and-maps
But when Nature is using the number 215,000 in the way they did, it does not look very credible. Take a look at the whole statement:
"With the nation’s death toll now exceeding 215,000, the coronavirus has killed more people in the United States than anywhere else. Even adjusting for population size, the country has fared spectacularly badly. Despite having vast scientific and monetary resources at his disposal, Trump failed catastrophically when it mattered most."
To me that looks more like it's driven by Orange Man Bad, than by science.
