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Minnesota Excess Deaths

By November 16, 2020Commentary

Here is another look at this, which I like to publish periodically to remind people that actions do have consequences and that coronavirus mitigation efforts have a cost and that includes killing people.  These are not CV-19 deaths.  These are deaths caused by our, meaning the state’s, response to the epidemic and specifically the campaign of terror.  These deaths will continue long after the epidemic is over and will eventually exceed its toll.  This is the result of the mental illness known as coronamonomania.  Every life matters and the consequences of governmental actions should consider all those lives.

Join the discussion 13 Comments

  • James Alt says:

    how can i do this comparison for my state?

    • Kevin Roche says:

      I will post a link, it is CDC data, you go to the excess deaths data and there are dashboards, and data sets you can download. you filter the dataset by jurisdiction and you can see your state only.

  • Mike M. says:

    I am concerned about how to interpret these numbers. For instance, people with diabetes are at high risk from the virus. If such a person catches the virus and dies, diabetes is probably listed among the various causes of death. Then does that show up as an excess death due to diabetes?

  • Peter S. says:

    I have access to Tableau, and the CDC site allows you to download the data and play with it. The totals currently for: MN = 2,016 non-covid excess deaths, WI = 2,904, ND = 265, SD = 282. So the Dakotas have roughly one tenth the non-covid excess deaths as MN.

    State
    Minnesota Alzheimer disease and dementia 489
    Minnesota Hypertensive diseases 370
    Minnesota Malignant neoplasms 317
    Minnesota Ischemic heart disease 218
    Minnesota Diabetes 183
    Minnesota Other diseases of the circulatory system 120
    Minnesota Cerebrovascular diseases 101
    Minnesota Heart failure 63
    Minnesota Other diseases of the respiratory system 55
    Minnesota Chronic lower respiratory disease 48
    Minnesota Influenza and pneumonia 39
    Minnesota Renal failure 13
    Minnesota Sepsis 0
    Minnesota All 2,016

    North Dakota Malignant neoplasms 131
    North Dakota Alzheimer disease and dementia 59
    North Dakota Ischemic heart disease 45
    North Dakota Other diseases of the circulatory system 19
    North Dakota Chronic lower respiratory disease 10
    North Dakota Cerebrovascular diseases 1
    North Dakota Influenza and pneumonia 0
    North Dakota Diabetes 0
    North Dakota All 265

    South Dakota Malignant neoplasms 144
    South Dakota Ischemic heart disease 65
    South Dakota Alzheimer disease and dementia 45
    South Dakota Chronic lower respiratory disease 14
    South Dakota Cerebrovascular diseases 8
    South Dakota Other diseases of the circulatory system 6
    South Dakota Influenza and pneumonia 0
    South Dakota Diabetes 0
    South Dakota Hypertensive diseases 0
    South Dakota All 282

    Wisconsin Alzheimer disease and dementia 603
    Wisconsin Malignant neoplasms 504
    Wisconsin Ischemic heart disease 412
    Wisconsin Other diseases of the circulatory system 298
    Wisconsin Cerebrovascular diseases 287
    Wisconsin Diabetes 200
    Wisconsin Hypertensive diseases 177
    Wisconsin Chronic lower respiratory disease 126
    Wisconsin Heart failure 115
    Wisconsin Other diseases of the respiratory system 71
    Wisconsin Influenza and pneumonia 42
    Wisconsin Sepsis 42
    Wisconsin Renal failure 27
    Wisconsin All 2,904

  • Rob says:

    Peter, comparing raw excess deaths is unfair; you should compare excess deaths per capita.

    The more important part is this: these are excess deaths on top of the COVID excess deaths. A few over the average is expected from time to time but some of these are so much above the average that it points to a larger problem – people have been scared away from seeking medical care. Unless there are corresponding below-average deaths for other causes, this points to public health mismanagement at the state and local level.

  • H. Narcissus Petit says:

    It’s not the patient’s fault. I’m not stupid, I’m rational. I’m acting rationally to minimize my risk.

    If I stay home, have my groceries delivered to the front steps, and have no other visitors, Covid can’t get me. Unless I go to the doctor’s office for my quarterly diabetes checkup. Then, I’m walking into a building full of people who might be asymptomatic super spreaders. Short term, it’s riskier to go to the diabetes maintenance appointment than to skip it. Yes, there will be long-term problems but I already know that – I have diabetes. The trade-off is long-term health risk to avoid Covid death today. The rational course is to avoid short-term risk and hope for the best long-term.

    Of course, that analysis is based on data provided by the Walz administration. If the data is wrong, the conclusion is wrong. But how can I know? Who else can I trust?

    That’s why people are skipping routine preventative care treatment. They are acting rationally based on the best data they have.

  • Christopher Foley says:

    You missed suicides and addiction related mortality not to mention morbidities.

  • DrDB says:

    The last time I looked Sweden has less total deaths now than the average of the last five years.

  • max says:

    I think, Rob, the constant drum beat of “hospitals are maxed out” and “caregivers are wearing down” have caused that reluctance to go to hospitals, along with a little “but that’s where the disease is”. We know a young respiratory therapist, she was at the hospital that the local group decided to make “the COVID hospital”. That never really happened, the others also accepted patients, and they have never been overwhelmed, not even close. If most had done something sensible, like dedicating one facility to COVID, and allowing others to take care of other patients, unhindered, you’d think the authorities were “taking care” of their responsibilities, instead of crashing the entire medical system.

  • Patrick says:

    Sepsis = 0

    Not everywhere.

    My cousin, age 32, died at the end of March in Chicago because he refused to go into the hospital when his appendix burst (causing sepsis). The fear campaign at the time was rampant despite, even then, the indications that the disease mainly effected older people. He was a grown man and made his own decision, but the pain must have been excruciating. How much fear was the media instilling to cause him to forgo treatment at the ER?

  • Rex Newman says:

    Are there any categories where the deaths decreased vs. average?

  • Lisa C King says:

    I am very concerned and extremely angry with all of the lies from the dictator. It looks like he is at it again and will be flexing his power with yet ANOTHER round of destruction coming tomorrow. This has pushed my husband and myself over the edge and we are in the process of moving down by family in Tennessee. The mental stress from all of the lies from him and his staff makes us both shake our heads in pure disgust. Honestly, if it weren’t for your articles we both would be in a very, very dark place mentally and we thank you for helping us. You have also helped a very close friend of mine, as he broke mentally from all of the stress and was talking about committing suicide. What the dictator does not understand or care about, is that these are human beings he is ruining with his rotten agenda.

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