Is the CDC About to Downgrade Coronavirus From ‘Epidemic’ Status?

No.

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Editor’s note: After we published this fact check, Collective Evolution changed the headline of its article and added a sentence discussing the CDC’s prediction of an increasing death rate. While this update includes important context for readers, even with the updated language the article gives a misleading impression of the CDC’s reporting.

An article from website Collective Evolution went viral on Facebook with claims that “The COVID-19 death rate across the US has now been confirmed to be so low that it’s on the edge of no longer being qualified as an epidemic.” The article quotes from a CDC update based on data current up to June 27, in which the CDC stated that, “Based on death certificate data, the percentage of deaths attributed to pneumonia, influenza or COVID-19 (PIC) decreased from 9.0% during week 25 to 5.9% during week 26, representing the tenth week of a declining percentage of deaths due to PIC.”

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  1. Mary Stine

    Thank you for this fact check. Too many people are desperate for this to be over and hence are
    clutching at straws. In my opinion far too many are also over-focused on the death rate, when the real rate of permanent lung damage and other long term effects among survivors and the asymptomatic are not fully known.

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    Levi Curby

    Thanks so much for this. Would you look into this story going around social media that Wayfair was trafficking children through their site?

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3741612969188933&id=100000208007373

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      Jake

      Don’t believe anything “reported” via Facebook. And screenshots of websites are literally the easiest pictures to edit.

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    2. Silence

      This is an unfounded, Q Anon-related conspiracy theory. I am honestly curious and am not being sarcastic, did you really think Wayfair was selling children? The girl in the picture isn't missing, and has been publicly displeased at having been dragged into this mess.

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    Victor Clairmont

    Thanks for the fact checksssss!

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    Sharon King

    I love your fact checks. This alone is worth the monthly subscription.

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    1. Brandon Hall

      100% agree. Jonah's toddlerish jokes help too!

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    Penny Gaffney

    But PIC death rate does not equate to only COVID-19 death rate. Correct?

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