The fatality rate for coronavirus has dropped by nearly a third since April, according to researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
IHME director Dr. Christopher Murray told Reuters that the fatality rate for Covid-19 in the United States is now around 0.6%, as opposed to 0.9% during the spring, a drop of 30%, based on more than 300 surveys.
Murray noted the difficulty in determining the precise rate, since many people who contract the virus remain asymptomatic for the duration and are never registered as carriers, meaning that the actual fatality rate is far lower than any research can accurately assess.
He added that, “We know that the risk is profoundly age-related. For every one year of age, the risk of death increases by 9%.”
He attributed the decreasing fatality rate over the course of the year to advances in treatment, with doctors learning how and when to use blood thinners and oxygen support more effectively. He also cited the steroid dexamethasone, a relatively cheap generic, as helpful in treatment.
IHME’s findings have been replicated in the Seattle Institute, Reuters notes, where they have calculated a drop of 0.19% per day in the fatality rate since spring. The Seattle Institute also noted what scientists in a large number of studies have reported throughout the year – that obesity significantly raises both the hospitalization and the fatality rate for Covid-19.