RUSH: Now, let’s go, grab audio sound bite number 3.
Jim Acosta showed back up at the briefing room yesterday from CNN and asked a question to doctors Birx and Fauci about “commentators spreading conspiracy theories about how they categorize coronavirus deaths.” (laughing) Now, who do you think he’s talking about? Who do you think he’s talking about when he talks about “commentators spreading conspiracy theories about how they categorize coronavirus deaths”?
We’re not doing anything but listening to what Birx is saying. Birx said that any opportunity they have to categorize a death as COVID-19, they will. By the way, one more thing. These models — every damned one of them — were based on mitigation. So they can’t claim that the numbers were off because they weren’t factoring in mitigation.
The only number that didn’t factor mitigation was the first number, 2.2 million. Every number after that has factored social distancing. They can’t say that the numbers were off because they weren’t factoring in mitigation. Their numbers were off because they were bad. Their numbers were off because the modeling had bad data.
Their numbers were off because they are a bunch of scaremongerers. They’re a bunch of doomsayers, and the doomsayers can never be wrong. You plug climate change into what she said about we didn’t know we had this kind of power. Plug in climate change! “We didn’t know we had the kind of power to make everybody give up their gasoline car!
“We didn’t know we had the kind of power to make everybody give up fossil fuels. We didn’t know we had that kind of power.” That’s what they’re trying to do, folks. They’re trying to use the same kind of power they’re using to stay home now to get you opposed to fossil fuels. (sigh) Anyway, I’m getting too worked up here.
Back to Jim Acosta. This is the briefing last night. And he’s asking the question of Birx and Fauci.
ACOSTA: There’s a lot of misinformation, conspiracy theories out there about the coronavirus. There are some commentators who are suggesting that the number of dead are being inflated because they’re saying that people who are dying with other issues are being listed as COVID-19 deaths. What do you say to those folks who are making the claim without really any evidence that these deaths are being padded, that the number of COVID-19 deaths are being padded?
RUSH: What does he mean without evidence? It was Birx herself yesterday who said — and we played you the sound bite — that any death with COVID-19 is categorized as a COVID-19 death. If you die from heart failure but you have COVID-19 they’re gonna chalk it up to COVID-19. She said that. That word “with” is a big word. If you die with COVID-19, we’re gonna say you died because of COVID-19. But you might not have. They’re the ones padding it, Acosta. We’re just listening to what they say. If they are involved in a conspiracy theory, you need to ask them. Anyway, here is how Dr. Deborah Birx answered his question.
BIRX: We’ve made it very clear I think every time I’ve been up here about the comorbidities. Those individuals will have an underlying condition, but that underlying condition did not cause their acute death when it’s related to a COVID infection. In fact, it’s the opposite. Having an underlying condition and getting this virus we know is particularly damaging to those individuals.
RUSH: So she’s saying it again. She’s saying that if they have heart failure or renal failure, whatever, and they get COVID-19 and they die, it’s COVID-19. She’s saying it’s not a conspiracy theory. Here is how Dr. Fauci answered the question.
FAUCI: Having been through other serious issues, particularly the very painful early years of HIV/AIDS when people talk about talk about conspiracy theories, you will always have conspiracy theories when you have very challenging public health crises.
RUSH: Right.
FAUCI: They are nothing but distractions.
RUSH: No, that’s right.
FAUCI: I can assure you, we have so much to do to protect the health and the welfare of the American people that I would just hope we just put those conspiracy stuff and let somebody write a book about it later on, but not now.
RUSH: All you need to do is go to what Dr. Birx said yesterday about this. I don’t know what the deal is. I think they’re trying to bail her out. It’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s brilliant to point out that she said “with,” if you die with COVID-19 you died because of it. And that’s not true. It’s a big difference in dying because of COVID-19 and dying with it. He died with heart failure. Ever say that? No. He died due to heart fail, cardiac arrest. They never say died with it. But she’s saying died with COVID-19 becomes they died because of COVID-19.
Daily Wire: NYC Data: Vast Majority Who Have Died From Coronavirus Had Serious Underlying Conditions
A Minnesota doctor was asked about this, wanted to weigh in on it last night on the Fox News Channel, Dr. Scott Jensen. He’s a Republican, a Minnesota state senator. Question: “That same CDC guidance sheet on COVID-19, references the fact that basically this is a judgment call for doctors on the cause of death. Why is that not correct?”
JENSEN: If I have a patient that died a month ago, had fever, cough, and died after three days and maybe had been an elderly, fragile individual, and there happened to be an influenza epidemic around our community, I wouldn’t put influenza on the death certificate, and I’ve never been encouraged to do so. I would put probably respiratory arrest would be the top line and underlying cause of disease would be pneumonia, and in contributing factors I might well put emphysema or congestive heart failure. But I would never put influenza down as the underlying cause of death, and yet that’s what we’re being asked to do here.
RUSH: So no conspiracy theory. It’s what they’re actually doing. And so the next question, “Dr. Fauci was asked about the COVID death count today, called it conspiracy theories, Doctor. So you’re engaging in conspiracy theories. What do you say to Dr. Fauci tonight?”
JENSEN: I would remind him that anytime health care intersects with dollars, it gets awkward. Right now Medicare has determined that if you have a COVID-19 admission to the hospital, you’ll get paid $13,000. If that COVID-19 patient goes on a ventilator, you’ll get $39,000.
RUSH: Did you know that?
JENSEN: Three times as much.
RUSH: Did you know that?
JENSEN: Nobody can tell me after 35 years in the world of medicine that sometimes those kinds of things impact on what we do. If I know I’ve got pneumonia, that’s what’s going on the death certificate. I’m not gonna add stuff just because it’s convenient.
RUSH: I didn’t know that. Right now Medicare has determined if you have COVID-19 admission to the hospital, you get paid 13 grand. If the COVID-19 patient goes on the ventilator, you get 39 grand. Well, isn’t it amazing what you learn as time goes on if you’re just patient? Oh, well. Conspiracy theory, my formerly ample butt.