As it turns out, somebody did ask the question about whether US COVID-19 death totals were accurate. The wording of the question makes it clear that the reporter was worried that they weren’t being inflated, but at least it was asked. From the transcript of a White House press briefing:
There are other countries that if you had a pre-existing condition and let’s say the virus caused you to go to the ICU and then have a heart or kidney problem — some countries are recording that as a heart issue or a kidney issue and not a COVID-19 death.
Right now, we’re still recording it, and we’ll — I mean, the great thing about having forms that come in and a form that has the ability to mark it as COVID-19 infection — the intent is, right now, that those — if someone dies with COVID-19, we are counting that as a COVID-19 death.
Dr. Deborah Birx
No, I can’t imagine if someone comes in with coronavirus, goes to an ICU, and they have an underlying heart condition and they die — they’re going to say, “Cause of death: heart attack.” I — I cannot see that — that happening. So I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.
Dr. Anthony Fauci
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