As COVID-19 deaths keep on increasing, knowing the exact number is important. However, some problems prevent the number from being accurate. One of them is that the definition of a coronavirus death may differ between states. Some count people who died having both the virus and other health problems while others don’t. This can cause inaccuracy as we don’t have an official definition of a COVID-19 death. Some states also aren’t willing to disclose death count information as they are scared that it will be used for other purposes that may be damaging to them.
A possible solution to this is for all of the states in America to make a compromise. Something that can be done is for a health agency such as CDC to help figure out an easier way to confirm a COVID-19 death and also decide what exactly is the definition of a coronavirus death. A possible definition for a coronavirus death is people who died while experiencing serious symptoms caused by COVID-19. Even if a victim had other health conditions, if he/she had severe COVID-19 symptoms, then it will be counted as a coronavirus death. To further confirm it, autopsies could also be done. Autopsies are rarely performed and can be expensive so a change that could be done is for autopsies to be free and done on every single uncertain death. This also means more people trained in doing autopsies as there aren’t as many workers. Another thing that can be done is for people to not be scared of going to the hospital if sick so doctors can make sure what deaths were caused by.
COVID-19 isn’t something that will just go by very fast and to solve it, we all need to work together smoothly as a country to get all the necessary information and enforce laws to protect people.