Doctor Rattles CNN Hosts With Reporting U.S. Vastly 'Overcounted' Covid Deaths
Tuesday, Dr. Leana Wen broke the news to CNN that the U.S. has been "overcounting" the deaths and hospitalizations of Covid-19 patients.
The news caught "CNN This Morning" anchor Don Lemon off guard. Such truths rarely occur on a Lemon-hosted program.
"Can you explain why you believe Covid deaths are being overcounted?" asked Lemon.
"Hospitals are still routinely testing everyone who’s getting admitted for COVID," Wen responded.
"We’re seeing many people who are hospitalized with Covid, and I think it’s important to separate out who is being hospitalized because of it. Because there are a lot of people who are still very concerned about their risk from Covid and we need to give them the most accurate data possible so that they can better gauge their risks. There are people still not resuming indoor dining or going to the gym or socializing. We have to give them the most accurate reporting as possible."
Deaths "With" vs. "From" Covid
Dr. Wen outlined the distinction between deaths "with Covid" and deaths "from Covid." She raised a similar point in a column for the Washington Post on Friday.
In the piece, Wen cited physician Robin Dretler, who claimed, "Since every hospitalized patient gets tested for COVID many are incidentally positive." Wen herself added a point about gunshot victims, for example, saying, "If these patients die, COVID might get added to their death certificate along with the other diagnoses. But the coronavirus was not the primary contributor to their death and often played no role at all."
Still rattled by the information, co-host Kaitlan Collins asked for more proof, doubting the theory as accurate.
"This is the reason this kind of transparent reporting is going to be so important," Wen said. "There is a way for us to look at death certificates and also to look at medical records of individuals prior to their death.
Wen makes the astute point that studies should have separated Covid deaths into three categories to better measure the actual deaths in which the virus caused:
Who could argue with such categorization? Third-wheel co-host Poppy Harlow, of course.
Harlow responded to Wen's push for more accurate representation of Covid deaths by asking her if she realized she's giving fodder to conspiracy theorists and those who downplay Covid, to anti-vaxxers."
Inconvenient truths
Harlow is unconcerned with the truth, so long as the falsehoods prevent the right-wingers from obtaining further ammunition.
"I’m sure you thought about that, right?" Harlow asked
"It’s interesting that I have had criticism on both sides," Wen said. "There are people who have said, ‘Well, why are you saying we’re overcounting COVID deaths now? You should have said this two-and-a-half years ago.’ There are others who have said, ‘Well we’re not overcounting them,’ and give various reasons as to why. I think at the end of the day we just need the truth.".
The overcounting of Covid deaths is hardly a novel point. But it's notable to see Dr. Leana Wen, who's employed by left-wing outlets CNN and the Washington Post, published the statement so adamantly.
Discounting Dr. Wen will be no easy task, as the CNN morning anchors came to see.
The manipulation of Covid data only adds to the dark mark the past three years have instilled at this point in history.
Lies, manipulation, and censorship will come to define the Covid era.
Our so-called experts and leaders lied to us, misled us, on every facet of the pandemic -- from the safety of the vaccine to the effectiveness of the mask-wearing to the origin of the virus to the lives it cost.
And worst of all, we weren't allowed to question or doubt the experts. We published a column on this phenomenon last week. You can read it here.
Meanwhile, don't expect Dr. Wen and her studies to appear alongside Don Lemon again. He doesn't appreciate such inconvenient, hard-to-dispute knowledge to brew on his program.