Do you have to restrain yourself from asking how someone died?

These days a lot of people have died.
I ran into a friend who was upset that a friend of hers passed. I barely knew this person, but I was compelled to ask if it was Covid related. It wasn’t.
Asking a question like that is loaded with potential damage. Drug overdose, murder, suicide, cancer… When do you get an answer that isn’t bad?
I don’t know why I asked.
Do you do this?