From that paper it looks like most deaths occurred due to respiratory failure (e.g. fluid filling the lungs or inflammation rendering the avoli incapable of effective perfusion) and fulminant myocarditis (essentially rapid onset myocardial inflammation leading to circulatory failure). Given the mode of infection and that the virus seems to reside in the respiratory system rather in the bloodstream like influenza, I would be suprised to see cytokine release syndrome in a typical patient but there is always the possibility of an uncontrolled immune response from any novel pathogen or allergen.
Do we actually know the increases in mortality in Italy? Or China, or Iran? X people died in a day, but was that one hundred percent attributable to COVID-19? Or was it COVID-19 “related”?
I mean, this stuff is all happening in real time so the answer to my question might literally be “no, we don’t know, information at that level of detail isn’t out yet.” And every country may report differently.
Even when we have good reporting numbers (and out of that list Italy is probably the most reliable) we really won’t know what the actual mortality rate is until epidemiologists have a serologic test for antibodies and can actually calculate the total number of asymptomatic infected or those whose symptoms were too mild to report, and even then it will be an estimate. There are certainly people who are currently unknowingly infected to will become critical and die with or without treatment, either because of the virus itself, co-infections, or pre-existing illness or sensitivity. I would take everything you see in the news that does not come directly from the CDC or the WHO to be suspect, and even numbers from those organizations may not reflect the compete picture at this point.
For the curious here is Kurzgesagt with a single-shot Covid-19 video and here is Extra History’s six-part series on the 1918 pandemic from eighteen months ago. They’re about ten minutes apiece so it’ll be an hour of your time but I thought it time well worth spent.