Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

February 27, 2020

Communicating the Risk of Death from Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

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  • Kobayashi et al. reviewed key epidemiological problems with using case fatality rate (CFR) and infection fatality rate (IFR) to assess severity of COVID-19. They concluded that division of the cumulative number of deaths by that of cases should be adjusted by the delay in time from illness onset to reporting. They caution that assessing only confirmed cases among all infections offers limited insight into the severity among all infected individuals, and the IFR are reduced by a shorter virus detection window and lower RT-PCR sensitivity.

Kobayashi et al (Feb 21, 2020). Communicating the Risk of Death from Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). J Clin Med. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9020580