CDC adds long COVID-19 to death certificate guidance

Death certificates will soon include long COVID-19 as a cause now that the CDC has broadened guidelines for certifying deaths.

"For decedents who had a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and were diagnosed with a post-COVID-19 condition, the certifier may consider the possibility that the death was due to long-term complications of COVID-19, even if the original infection occurred months or years before death," the CDC's new guidelines read. 

Death that is not directly due to long COVID-19 but due to complications from long COVID-19 should also be reported alongside a person's other medical history as a potential cause. 

The expansion of these guidelines was prompted by the need to obtain "an accurate count of the number of deaths due to COVID-19 infection, which depends in part on proper death certification" because it "is critical to ongoing public health surveillance and response."

 

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