The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) counts the number of deaths associated with COVID-19 to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. VDH is using national guidance (released December 2021) to assess COVID-19 deaths. These assessments are made either through the course of local public health department investigation of a COVID-19 case or through death certificate review. VDH counts a COVID-19-associated death if it meets any of the criteria below:
- For confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases, the case investigator determines that the patient passed away due to COVID-19. This may occur through the review of the patient’s medical record, talking with the patient’s healthcare provider, or talking with the patient’s family.
- VDH receives a death certificate that is matched to a known confirmed COVID-19 case and:
- The death certificate specifically lists COVID-19 or an equivalent term as a factor in death
OR - The death certificate indicates that death occurred within 30 days of the specimen collection date for the confirmatory laboratory test and the manner of death on the death certificate is documented as ‘natural’ (as opposed to ‘accident’, ‘suicide, ‘homicide’, etc.)
- The death certificate specifically lists COVID-19 or an equivalent term as a factor in death
- VDH receives a death certificate that is matched to a known probable COVID-19 case and:
- The death certificate specifically lists COVID-19 or an equivalent term as a factor in death
OR - The death certificate indicates that death occurred within 30 days of the specimen collection date for the presumptive laboratory test or the symptom onset date (whichever is applicable) and the manner of death on the death certificate is documented as ‘natural’ (as opposed to ‘acident’, ‘suicide, ‘homicide’, etc.)
- The death certificate specifically lists COVID-19 or an equivalent term as a factor in death
- VDH receives a death certificate and that person was not previously reported as a confirmed or probable COVID-19 case and the death certificate specifically lists COVID-19 or equivalent term as the primary cause of death. These persons are recorded as probable cases that resulted in death.
VDH does count deaths among people with underlying conditions. In these situations, it is likely that the COVID-19 infection worsened the underlying condition and the two together contributed to the patient’s death.
Some helpful things to remember about COVID-19-associated deaths:
- Death is one possible outcome of a COVID-19 infection. The number of deaths reported by VDH is a subset of the total number of COVID-19 cases.
- Probable deaths are deaths that occurred in persons previously classified as probable COVID-19 cases or persons with COVID-19 listed as the primary cause of death on their death certificate and not previously reported to VDH as a COVID-19 case.
- There is a delay between a rise in cases and a corresponding rise in deaths.
- This is partly due to the progression of the disease – on average, death occurs a week or more after a person becomes sick with COVID-19.
- Each death certificate is reviewed using strict criteria by a subject matter expert which takes extra time.
- Graphs showing the number of deaths reported by day does not represent when a death occurred.
- There is the option to view VDH’s data on COVID-19-associated deaths by the date of death here, which is a more accurate representation of when death occurred than looking at deaths by the day they were reported.
*Originally posted on January 11, 2021.