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Comment by vermilingua | Hacker News Reader

If this is true, the death toll of Covid-19 is going to be a lot worse than currently indicated, is that right?

The complications of ventilators and whatever lasting damage is caused by the disease itself; will be killing a significant portion of the recovered population, will it not?

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Most mortality estimates and forecasts include only deaths directly attributable to the virus. There are many indirect deaths that will be caused by it. Long term lung damage is one of the ways this will happen, probably among the most delayed. Many more deaths will happen because hospitals that are operating at capacity won't have the resources to prevent other deaths that they normally stop, or will have to stop non-critical treatments in ways that will reduce patients' life expectancies. I live in Madrid and know a neurologist that has stopped any intervention that can't be delayed.

Actually Italy counts everyone who dies who has COVID19 as a COVID19 death. This does not include future death by long term after effects but it includes more then what e.g. was included in China, which is part of why the death rate is so much higher in Italy (the other part is in average people are much older in Italy then China).

Also put that in context with the fact that Italy reported that the majority of death is with people which have preexisting conditions/other illnesses.

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