The fatality rate is around 0.1%. It was higher back in February and March. But it has come down substantially because of a better understanding of the virus. We have better procedures and we know which drugs work and at which stage of the disease. We also know who is at risk. So, all these factors have made the fatality rate in the past month very very low.
That being said, the Washington Post reported that there are studies which say the rate of fatal heart disease has gone up by more than the total virus fatalities during the same time period. This is because people with heart issues are not getting the care they need, staying away from doctors and hospitals either out of fear or bad advise. And numerous other issues have raised the death toll as well, like addiction and depression. So, now, the number of new cases is no concern. The lock down is a concern.
Heart disease, cancer, even broken bones are going untreated.
We really didn’t organize this very well. We should have set up area hospitals explicitly for known covid patients, leaving other hospitals to treat other illnesses both serious and routine. We’re hearing some hospitals are or were overwhelmed, and at the same time other hospitals are going broke because nobody wants to walk into one for fear of catching the virus there. If the hospitals were better quarantined maybe people wouldn’t put off needed treatments and exams. Heck even physical rehab places, which people need to recover from injuries, are off by 50% or more. That can lead to long term problems if you don’t do your physical therapy.
Progressive diseases like cancer are going to go up in the coming years as a result of this. It is axiomatic that the sooner you treat a disease the greater likelihood of a positive outcome. But if you can’t get cancer screening, you won’t know about the cancer, and it can be very aggressive depending on the type. This will make it much harder to treat, and harder on the patient.
How did you derive that number?
535,499 total deaths/(535,499 total deaths + 6,223,819 total recovered, i.e. completed cases) times 100 to give a percentage = 8.7% mortality rate