To follow up the If people don’t stand up for their rights, their rights will be forgotten point, which YouTube has taken down:

“We don’t die of the virus. We die of pneumonia.”

The CDC at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/covid-19.htm has been issuing guidance to merge deaths from other causes into a WHO code U07.1 that assigns COVID-19 as the primary cause of death. For example, click the March 24, 2020 “Notification of new ICD code introduced for COVID-19” guidance to see:

“The underlying cause depends upon what and where conditions are reported on the death certificate. However, the rules for coding and selection of the underlying cause of death are expected to result in COVID-19 being the underlying cause more often than not.“

Click the April 2, 2020 “New Releases: Final Guidance and Provisional Death Counts” guidance to see:

“Provisional counts for COVID-19 deaths are based on a current flow of mortality data in the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), and will include:

• A weekly provisional count of deaths in the United States due to COVID-19
• A provisional count of deaths from all causes
• Percent of previous year’s deaths (the number of deaths received compared to the number of deaths expected based on data from previous years)
• Pneumonia deaths (excluding pneumonia deaths involving influenza)

Pneumonia deaths are included in the provisional counts because deaths due to COVID-19 may be misclassified as pneumonia deaths in the absence of positive test results, and pneumonia may appear on death certificates as a comorbid condition. Thus, increases in pneumonia deaths may be an indicator of excess COVID-19-related mortality.”

1. How probable is it now that US deaths from pneumonia will NOT be attributed to COVID-19?
2. This change in medical reporting has had / will have what effects on the headlines we’ve seen and will see?
3. Who has benefited / will benefit from (medical, economic, social, and political) reports on and actions taken with the change in medical reporting to: “COVID-19 being the underlying cause more often than not.”
4. Who has suffered and will suffer from these reports and actions?