Kentucky, other health leaders correct record on COVID-19 deaths after Trump tweet
Health departments were trying Monday to clarify the facts after President Donald Trump retweeted a QAnon conspiracy theorist who falsely claimed only 6 percent of COVID-19 deaths in the United States were actually because of COVID-19.
The tweet, which has since been deleted by Twitter for spreading misinformation, claimed the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention “quietly” updated its data to show that only 6 percent of people who were counted as COVID-19 deaths “actually died from COVID.”
The CDC’s report actually said “for 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned.” The other 94 percent died from a combination of COVID-19 and other underlying conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and respiratory illnesses. In total, more than 180,000 Americans have died from the virus. Health experts have warned since the beginning of the pandemic that COVID-19 can be deadly for those with other health problems.
“People with underlying conditions are the most at-risk for this, this is not new information,” said Kevin Hall, spokesman for the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.
The misinformation is even more dangerous in Kentucky because the state consistently has the highest or one of the highest death rates for other illnesses.
In 2018, Kentucky had the highest death rate in the nation for cancer patients, the third-highest death rate in the nation for chronic lower respiratory illnesses, the fifth-highest death rate for diabetes patients, and the seventh-highest death rate for heart disease patients, according to CDC data.
Kentucky’s adult obesity rate hit an all-time high of 36.6 percent in 2018, which ranked fifth in the nation.
“Because chronic conditions are more prevalent in Kentucky, there is more potential for severe illness here from infection with the COVID virus,” Hall said.
COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on those with underlying conditions in Lexington, with the majority of COVID-19 deaths coming from patients who had other ailments. But trying to rationalize deaths by downplaying them is sad, Hall said.
“All of these deaths are tragic because they’re somebody’s loved ones,” he said. “To see people put an ‘only’ in front of these people who have died is really unfortunate.”
The Twitter account which originally posted the tweet, @littllemel, has since tweeted that they were taking the CDC numbers in proper context and Twitter was trying to hide the truth.
“So if the CDC says something that supports the fake news narrative, its legit, but when I source the CDC, it’s false,” they said. “This just puts more eyes on our movement & gets folks to research.”
They also shared a tweet which said COVID-19 was “one of the biggest hoaxes in the history of the world.”
Lexington’s 56 deaths have come from a total of 5,726 cases, according to health department data. The city has also reported 420 hospitalizations. Cases have surged in the last week, and the city has worked to increase testing as the demand for it has increased. There are nine free testing sites open this week, though days and hours of operation vary, and some require appointments.
This story was originally published August 31, 2020 at 2:25 PM.