Thread

1. bitcurious · 1789773644 · focus · HN ↗

   > The newspaper also reported, citing another unidentified official, that not all of the undisclosed deaths were directly tied to the months-long conflict but involved US personnel who were in the Middle East amid ongoing hostilities.

   If someone dies near a war, but not due to the war, is it really fair to count them as a war fatality?

   1. runako · 1789774786 · focus · HN ↗

      "With Covid, not of Covid," but for military casualties. One does see something new every day.

      1. Retric · 1789777019 · focus · HN ↗

         There’s often more ambiguity than that. “Died of a COVID linked complication with COVID and other issue that is also linked to that complication.” You can’t spend endless resources deciding if something is or isn’t responsible.

         Systems use arbitrary buckets like if someone commits suicide in less than six months from coming home after a war might count it, while excluding every case after six months. That’s going to misclassify cases in both directions but means you don’t need to track millions of people for decades or look through mental health details.

         Obviously people with more data to work with can make a convincing case you’re wrong, but higher levels accuracy get expensive. In the end we know more than 1 million Americans died of COVID for example, how many more isn’t precisely known but ~1 million is plenty useful for decision making around the next pandemic.

         1. runako · 1789932816 · focus · HN ↗

            Was aiming for more pithy but the crux is

            > “Died of a COVID linked complication with COVID and other issue that is also linked to that complication.”

            Where people refused to acknowledge the "linked complication" part of it at all. Many people refused to consider a death as being due to Covid unless the person literally suffocated, ignoring Covid's clear links to many other cardiovascular conditions.

            Anyway, I agree with what you're saying here.

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.