Anthony Fauci rubbishes 'conspiracy theory' that US coronavirus death toll is being inflated
The coronavirus pandemic in the United States continues to affect more people and claim lives while the economy stares at a disaster. Over 466,000 people have been infected with the novel coronavirus and more than 16,000 lives have been lost so far in the US. Amid the snowballing figures, reports are doing the rounds that the number of deaths caused by the virus could be inflated though Dr Anthony Fauci, a key member of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus taskforce, has refuted them.
Speculation is rife that the number of deaths associated with the pandemic could be too high if people who died with the virus not because of it were included. Fauci, a top immunologist, was asked during his appearance on NBC’s Today on April 9, if those suspicions were valid.
According to Dr Fauci, 79, there was no evidence to support them.
“You know, Savannah, there is absolutely no evidence that that’s the case at all. I think it falls under the category of something that’s very unfortunate, these conspiracy theories that we hear about. Every time we have a crisis of any sort, there’s always this popping up of conspiracy theories. I think the deaths that we’re seeing are coronavirus deaths, and the other deaths are not being counted as coronavirus deaths,” said Dr Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
A section of media has been questioning death toll
A number of media personalities who are friendly towards President Donald Trump have floated the conspiracy theory that the coronavirus death toll may be exaggerated because people who are dying of other causes but have the virus are being categorized as victims of COVID-19. Such people include Fox News personalities Tucker Carlson and Brit Hume.
In a weekly program, Carlson showed weekly data on pneumonia-related deaths from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and called the drop in deaths as suspicious, suspecting that the fall could be a result of those deaths being categorized as one caused by COVID-19.
“For the last few weeks, that [pneumonia] number has come in far lower than at the same moment in previous years. How could that be?” Carlson asked. “Well, it seems entirely possible that doctors are classifying conventional pneumonia deaths as COVID-19 deaths. That would mean this epidemic is being credited for thousands of deaths that would have occurred if the virus never appeared here.”
Hume seconded Carlson and said, “If everybody is being automatically classified, if they’re found to have COVID-19, as a COVID-19 death, we’re going to get a very large number of deaths that way, and we’re probably not going to have an accurate count of what the real death total is.”
Fox anchor Harris Faulkner also said on another occasion that the coronavirus death toll could include people who were not killed by the virus.
Besides Dr Fauci, Dr Deborah Birx — the response coordinator of the task force — also addressed the speculation over inflated death tally during a press briefing on April 8. “Those individuals will have an underlying condition, but that underlying condition did not cause their acute death when it’s related to a [COVID-19] infection,” Birx said. “In fact, it’s the opposite.”
Republican Ron Paul calls Fauci 'fraud', wants him fired
Meanwhile, former Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul called Fauci a “fraud” and called for his firing. Speaking on his show, the Texas Republican said, “He should be fired, but if you don’t do it in the literal sense, the people have to fire him. They have to fire him by saying ‘he’s a fraud.’”
“The plan that they have is when things are getting back to normal, people can return to their work, and they do things, and go to the golf course if they get a stamp of approval. Your liberties are there if you get a proper stamp from the government,” Paul, 84, said.
He also posted the opinion on Twitter along with a video clip from his internet TV show. “Fauci Should Be Fired,” the post read. “If Not By Trump, Then By The American People.”
The GOP member had earlier suggested that the coronavirus was a “big hoax” and the actual problem was being massively exaggerated by those who seek to profit — financially or politically.