I need someone to do the math for me

[left-of-center2012]

I’ve never been good with percentages.

9,357,245 Americans have become infected with COVID-19,
and 231,988 have died (according to what I see on the CDC website this morning).

My question is:
What percentage of those who got it died?

This is for a response in a non-DU forum.

(I do know many ‘survivors’ will suffer life long effects from it)

Thanks

[jcgoldie]

1. 2.5%

Just divide deaths by cases and multiply by 100

[Captain Stern]

8. That's true.

But I'll add a maybe minor point.

We can't really use total cases....we should subtract the number of those that are currently infected, because unfortunately, some of those folks are going to die too.

That said, I don't think we have a way to really know the death rate because there are undoubtedly people that were infected that never knew they where infected, so obviously, they weren't reported as being infected.

[BBG]

2. Simply

Divide 231,988 by 9,357,245 and multiply by 100 and you get 2.479%

[Maeve]

3. 2.4%

[Botany]

4. Roughly .0256 or 2.6% (rounded off)

n/t

[beachbumbob]

5. this is a moving target as we have no idea of the actual total of infections to begin with

[genxlib]

6. Math aside

Don't confuse "become infected" with "tested positive".

There are many people who have been sick but never were able to get tested. That is why the percentages for death rate were higher in the beginning because they were only testing people who had already gotten really sick. Since testing is more widespread now, it is catching some less severe cases and even some asymptomatic cases.

As that percentage has reduced over time, it is partially due to better treatment. But mostly it is simply a better understanding of who is actually positive.

[soothsayer]

7. Keep in mind deaths might really be 300,000 at this point

https://www.statnews.com/2020/10/20/cdc-data-excess-deaths-covid-19/

Amid pandemic, U.S. has seen 300,000 ‘excess deaths,’ with highest rates among people of color

Snip

When there’s a public health crisis or disaster like the coronavirus pandemic, experts know that the official death tally is going to be an undercount by some extent. Some people who die might never have been tested for the disease, for example, and if people die at home without receiving medical care, they might not make it into the confirmed data.

To address that, researchers often look to what are called excess deaths — the number of deaths overall during a particular period of time compared to how many people die during the stretch in a normal year.

Now, in the most updated count to date, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found that nearly 300,000 more people in the United States died from late January to early October this year compared the average number of people who died in recent years. Just two-thirds of those deaths were counted as Covid-19 fatalities, highlighting how the official U.S. death count — now standing at about 220,000 — is not fully inclusive.

[left-of-center2012]

9. When we talk about a 'survival rate'

Wouldn't that depend where, and on the care given?

For instance I'd guess survival chances are better in Europe than third world countries ?

Note I left out Trump's America.

[icwlmuscyia]

10. here - world-o-meters does the math for you on cases that have been closed:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

you really have to wait till they are closed to calculate outcomes.

6,532,974
Cases which had an outcome:

6,293,132 (96%)
Recovered / Discharged

239,842 (4%)
Deaths

[Cicada]

11. Probably 300,000 have died, we don't know how many have been infected

An extra 300,000 Americans have died this year compared to the number expected from past death rates. That’s a rough estimate of the real number of covid deaths. Most people have never been tested so we don’t know the real infection rate. Plus the tests are not 100% accurate.

There are experts who work on calculating the infection death rate. As they get more information they update their estimates. You can search covid infection death rate to periodically see the most recent estimates. Last time I searched, about a month ago, the estimates varied but seemed on average to center on five tenths of one percent, or lower. Maybe four tenths of one percent. With time our treatments improve so the rate will probably decline.