Santa Clara County downgraded its estimated death toll from COVID-19, but health experts said this is not a sign the pandemic is any less deadly.
Until this change, the county had been including anyone who had COVID-19 at the time of death. Now, it will only include cases in which COVID-19 is listed specifically among the causes of death.
"People can come in and have an incidental finding of COVID and have been in a car wreck or have a stroke something utterly unrelated to COVID," UCSF epidemiologist Dr. George Rutherford told KCBS Radio on Monday.
Santa Clara County's change reduced the official death toll by a little over 20%. Alameda County made similar changes to its recording last month.
Dr. Rutherford said the drop in numbers shouldn’t change our understanding of how deadly the pandemic has been in the U.S.
"With more than 600,000 Americans dying of COVID, you know there is no explaining this away with small statistical adjustments," he said.
Dr. Rutherford estimated there are likely a similar number of deaths indirectly linked to COVID-19 that never made it into the official count.
"National estimates suggest that may be as high as 20% as well," he said.
