Tony Fauci’s sidekick Deborah Birx stated on Tuesday at the White House press briefing that “if someone dies with COVID-19, we are counting that as a COVID-19 death.”
Here it is:
“if someone dies *with* COVID-19, we are counting that as a COVID-19 death.” – Dr Brix on how coronavirus cases are treated with the patient had pre-existing conditions like heart disease. pic.twitter.com/hY6blb29q4— Cernovich (@Cernovich) April 7, 2020
If she really means this, consider this situation: A person is tested for COVID-19 but is young and only has mild symptoms. He is told to go home and self-isolate for 14-days. The test results go on his medical record.
On the way home, he is hit by a car and rushed to the hospital in serious condition. He dies at the hospital. It appears as though Birx is stating that this would be recorded as a COVID-19 death.
It could certainly be interpreted that way. And because of the way incentives are structured at hospitals, hospital administrators would certainly want it to be counted as a COVID-19 death.
So the question becomes how many deaths are recorded as COVID-19 deaths when there are clearly other factors that would have caused the death anyway?
Remember, deaths are very heavily skewed toward the elderly with serious chronic conditions. Maybe COVID-19 pushed some such people, over life’s finish line, 5 minutes earlier than it would otherwise have happened but should this really be counted as a COVID-19 death? A type of counting that is fueling the lockdown of most of the country.
Reprinted with permission from Economic Policy Journal.
