There has been a recent wave of dangerous misinformation in the Christian community, fueled by prominent pastors like John MacArthur, that only 6% of COVID-reported deaths were actually due to COVID. I’m not getting down into that morass, but here is another article from Nature discussing the “deaths above expected” figures in different parts of the world.
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Excellent article … and the image below comes from a related article linked inside the one you provide!
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Thanks for sharing. I fight the good fight for good COVID-science almost every day on social media. It’s really amazing how much new, but conflicting data can come up and people just hit Share. Social media thrives on emotion I realize - people are tired of it all and politically charged up, and wish for facts to make COVID go away. It’s not every day you get called “the most gullible person I know” for actually pointing out misinformation. 
(that happened today with the MacArthur 6% video). Thankfully that was an acquaintance who doesn’t know me; I believe the “bystander effect” is important, so I’ll challenge a narrative, even so one less person shares or thinks through it a few more seconds. I see others doing the same. I also believe it is important to explain what excess deaths are, related to discussion of commodities and how many people actually died of COVID. I didn’t realize before this year that the totality of deaths are so consistent week to week. It seems counter intuitive at first.
I’d like to know what India’s excess deaths look like right now. My guess is it’s devastating. 
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That is upsetting that MacArthur would preach such misinformation.
I looked at the CDC article and noted that the top comorbidity listed is flu virus infection
That is likely one reason why they are encouraging everyone to still get their flu shots this year. The other reason for the recommendation is probably because being vaccinated against the flu could help reduce confusion about diagnosis when people present with covid/flu-like symptoms.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#Comorbidities
I’ve been dialoguing a bit with a friend on Facebook who disagrees with the new policy in MA requiring flu shots for school attendance this year. So there are clearly people who are skeptical about such vaccination recommendations
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Isn’t that actually just pneumonia as a result of COVID? CDC just lumps flu and pneumonia in the same section, so it gets confusing, as usually it’s mostly flu that results in fatal pneumonia?
I’m just assuming people did NOT have both the flu and COVID.
I wondered that myself, as well. I think it is hard to tease out the cause of pneumonia clinically.
However, it does sound like coinfection with flu and covid is possible, and could lead to worse outcomes, so best to try to protect against flu infection thus season, too
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