Correct, that's why I characterized them as miscounts.
There are popular theories about thousands of such miscounts happening to get more money from the government, but it makes no sense for them to be more than a small minority of mistakes.
>There are popular theories about thousands of such miscounts happening to get more money from the government, but it makes no sense for them to be more than a small minority of mistakes.
Show me profit motive, and I'll show you an audit worth doing. If you've not parsed and checked that data, I'd recommend not passing judgement on it. The market can stay irrational longer than you can remain solvent.
Earlier in the pandemic many public health agencies over counted COVID-19 deaths by including everyone who had tested positive regardless of the actual cause of death. Most agencies have now corrected those numbers to better align with WHO and CDC guidelines so current metrics are generally more accurate. For example Santa Clara County had to adjust the death count down by 22%.
The WHO definition of a covid death means that they can only be counted as covid deaths if there's a clinical link between cause of death and covid.
Ergo, cancer and car accident victims with covid wouldn't be counted.
I suppose it depends on how your country defines it and if it follows WHO guidelines