If You Get Hit by a Car and Die, You May Be Recorded as a COVID-19 Death

by | Apr 8, 2020

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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 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.

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