On November 4, the Ministry of Health announced 250 deaths among COVID-19 patients. These are official figures, but analysts say they are not complete. There is no place in them for patients who died of coronavirus in their own home without tests. Among the actual victims of the pandemic are people with other conditions. They didn’t get to the doctor in time.
- The data collected by the pharmacist and analyst Łukasz Pietrzak shows that in the first 42 weeks of 2021, there were 396 thousand. 316 deaths
- His calculations show that during this period we had 73 thousand. excess deaths
- Comparing the average for the same period in the previous five years, it turns out that there was an increase of 23%.
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage
Excess deaths in 2021 – big increases
The pharmacist Łukasz Pietrzak on his Twitter account constantly analyzes the pandemic situation, showing the calculations with self-prepared charts. It is based on officially available data, including from the Ministry of Health or the Central Statistical Office.
Pietrzak is currently interested in excess deaths in Poland. The pharmacist has calculated that this year there are more of them than in previous years.
«In the first 42 weeks of 2021, 396 jobs were recorded. 316 deaths. This means that we have over 73 thousand. excess deaths. This is an increase of 23 percent. to the corresponding period of the 5-year average. In 2017, we recorded a similar number of deaths, but within 52 weeks, ”Pietrzak writes.
The rest of the text is below the video.
Excess deaths not only from COVID-19
These numbers include the silent victims of the pandemic. Some of them are people infected with the coronavirus – those who decided not to be tested, although they had symptoms of COVID-19.
– We already know from previous waves that excess deaths show hidden victims of the epidemic – said Pietrzak in an interview with the Polish Army. Usually, these are people over the age of 60 who are leaving home probably due to COVID-19, but no one has checked the exact causes of their deaths. These are also people who did not receive medical attention on time.
The pharmacist added that he was familiar with this phenomenon from his own practice. The relatives of the sick with symptoms of infection come to the pharmacy, asking for a COVID-19 test. Grandma or grandpa do not agree to be taken to the hospital, preferring to stay at home.
But excess deaths also affect people with quite different ailments. Difficult access to doctors and diagnostics, as well as fear of visiting the clinic (e.g. for fear of coronavirus infection) result in the fact that many Poles do not get tested or ignore disturbing symptoms. The result, in turn, is an epidemic of cancer. Last year, fewer patients reported to oncologists, therefore, in 2021, oncology was at the limit of its capacity. There was an accumulation of cases, including advanced cancers that were detected late and required more invasive treatment. Or the patients’ prognosis was much worse.
The category of excess deaths resulting from a pandemic also includes any case of a heart attack when the ambulance did not arrive on time (because it had to go to a patient with COVID-19), any emergency resulting in death when emergency departments were so congested that the ambulances were sent from hospital to hospital. As well as any undetected disease that led to the patient’s death if he did not come to the examination due to lack of places or fear of the coronavirus.
Do you want to test your COVID-19 immunity after vaccination? Have you been infected and want to check your antibody levels? See the COVID-19 immunity test package, which you will perform at Diagnostics network points.
Also read:
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- Prof. Marten: everything must be done not to connect a patient with COVID-19 to a ventilator
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- How many adverse reactions after vaccination against COVID-19? We have new data
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