The WHO (World Health Organization) defines the protocol of clarification mortality due to COVID-19. The numbers of deaths are theoretically skyrocketing causing fatal knockout to the entertainment and filmmaking industry. However, these numbers might be over-boosted by the WHO protocol. Our industry needs to know the facts. Read on.

Unprecedented damage to the filmmaking industry

The negative impact of COVID-19 on the filmmaking and entertainment industry is enormous and includes almost every segment in the industry, from independent filmmakers to large scale productions. Projects are being canceled, and work is minimized due to panic and harsh social distancing regulations. People are afraid to get infected with the virus, as the media publishes those exponential curves all over it. The media, and especially the social media acts as a fuel of panic implementation to drive traffic and traction for utilizing revenues from ads since COVID-19 has transformed into a sexy terminology that works perfectly for the press to boost rating and thus revenue. However, it’s done on the entertainment industry’s fragile back, and that hurts.

The media, and especially the social media acts as a fuel of panic implementation to drive traffic and traction for utilizing revenues from ads since COVID-19 has transformed into a sexy terminology

Why am I writing this?

The answer: Because I care. As a filmmaker, blogger, educator, and former biochemistry researcher (M.Sc) I feel that I have some kind of responsibility for my readers to know the facts. The entertainment industry is one of the most affected by COVID-19 situations as explained above. So knowing the facts (taken from WHO) is, in my opinion, a mandatory piece of knowledge.

WHO References

First, it’s important to emphasize that this is not an article about conspiracy theories whatsoever. COVID-19 is real. But, everyone should know the facts. Second, from this point till the end of the article, only facts from WHO (World Health Organization) will be presented. The main reference for this article is The INTERNATIONAL GUIDELINES FOR CERTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION (CODING) OF COVID-19 AS CAUSE OF DEATH document that can be downloaded from the WHO website by anyone. The links are Emergency use ICD codes for COVID-19 disease outbreak, the Medical certification, ICD mortality coding, and reporting mortality associated with COVID-19 and the main document itself which can be download from here.

WHO’s definition of deaths due to COVID-19

The INTERNATIONAL GUIDELINES FOR CERTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION (CODING) OF COVID-19 AS CAUSE OF DEATH was written by WHO and defines mortalities due to COVID-19. The document describes certification and classification (coding) of deaths related to COVID-19. The primary goal is to identify all deaths due to COVID-19. According to WHO, “A death due to COVID-19 is defined for surveillance purposes as a death resulting from a clinically compatible illness, in a probable or confirmed COVID-19 case, unless there is a clear alternative cause of death that cannot be related to COVID disease (e.g. trauma)”. Let’s clarify this sentence. According to WHO, there is NO obligation to identify COVID-19 in the defunct. That means, that the definition of death due to COVID-19 can be an estimation. So why’s that? According to WHO, it’s done for “surveillance purposes”. However, this case is being fed into the graph of COVID-19 mortality. Furthermore, accordion to WHO: “A death due to COVID-19 may not be attributed to another disease (e.g. cancer) and should be counted independently of preexisting conditions that are suspected of triggering a severe course of COVID-19”. Does it mean that a defunct could die twice? (in order elevate COVID-19 mortalities”). Also, this sentence implies uncertainty regarding the cause of depth. And if there is a doubt, means there is no doubt, and the defunct died from COVID-19. In simple words, those conditions and stipulations by WHO can cause a dramatic increase in the numbers of COVID-19 deaths. 

A death due to COVID-19 is defined for surveillance purposes as a death resulting from a clinically compatible illness, in a probable or confirmed COVID-19 case.

WHO (World Health Organization)

COVID-19 on the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death

According to WHO protocol: “COVID-19 should be recorded on the medical certificate of cause of death for ALL decedents where the disease caused, or is assumed to have caused, or contributed to death”. Again, when there is a doubt, COVID-19 is inserted as a depth cause in the certificate of cause of death. Here, on the International Form of Medical Certificate of Cause of Death, is examples (taken from WHO’s website) of how to certify this chain of events for deaths due to COVID-19. Take a look at the rubric that says: “Suspected COVID-19” (see picture below). That means that there is no evidence for COVID-19 (a lab-test for instance). From the epidemiological angle, this defunct died from COVID-19 although there is no evidence for the virus. So why is that? According to WHO, this theoretical deterioration is applied due to surveillance purposes for statistical tabulation. WHO wants to show the highest cases of COVID-19 possible!

COVID-19 should be recorded on the medical certificate of cause of death for ALL decedents where the disease caused, or is assumed to have caused, or contributed to death.

WHO (World Health Organization)

WHO guidelines for coding COVID-19 for mortality

This document also provides information about the ICD-10 codes for COVID-19 and includes mortality classification (coding) instructions for statistical tabulation in the context of COVID-19. It includes a reference to the WHO case definitions for surveillance. The New ICD-10 codes for COVID-19:

• U07.1 COVID-19, virus identified
• U07.2 COVID-19, virus NOT identified: Clinically-epidemiologically diagnosed COVID-19, or probable/suspected COVID-19. The WHO wants you to use this code when COVID-19 is diagnosed clinically or epidemiologically but laboratory testing is inconclusive or not available.

Again, there is no need to identify COVID-19, because the probability is good enough to be recorded as COVID-19 death case.

Explore below the full World Health Organization INTERNATIONAL GUIDELINES FOR CERTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION (CODING) OF COVID-19 AS CAUSE OF DEATH, or downed it from this link.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://ymcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Guidelines_Cause_of_Death_COVID-19-20200420-EN.pdf”]

Summary: Panic or pandemic?

There is no argument that the number of COVID-19 deaths is high. However, it all depends on how is this number being calculated. This article has demonstrated how the WHO (World Health Organization) defines mortality due to COVID-19. For instance, mortality caused by acute respiratory distress syndrome due to Pneumonia, can be recorded as COVID-19 although the virus has not been confirmed! (negative laboratory tests). That protocol leads to much significantly higher fatality rates. This method was invented by WHO for “surveillance purposes” as explained in their public documents. Unfortunately, the outcome of this procedure is “panic graphs” that is fueled by the press as a hot trend. The situation has numerous side effects like loss of jobs, paralyzing the entertainment industry (and beyond), deep depression, and more. That’s the reason that COVID-19 is more panic than a real pandemic.

This article is based on the Mortality Classification Instructions by the World Health Organization. All references are embed and/or linked in the article.