Caddo Coroner Explains COVID 19 Fatality Stats

Caddo Parish Coroner Dr. Todd Thoma talks to 101.7 / 710 KEEL's Robert J Wright and Erin McCarty about the latest Coronavirus statistics and he explains how - and why - COVID 19 is listed as the cause of death.

Amid accusations aimed at federal officials that the number of COVID deaths are inflated, Thoma tells KEEL listeners, "let's say a 60-year-old man with...congestive heart failure has cardiac arrest at home. He's rushed to the emergency room, in the emergency room they "swab" hims and he's COVID positive, they're unable to resuscitate him and he dies. He's probably going down as a COVID related death, even though it may not have been the COVID virus that actually caused his death."

Federal health officials, particularly Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birks, are being criticized after her admission that the federal government is classifying the deaths of patients infected with the virus as COVID 19 caused, even if the patients had other health issues might have contributed to their loss of life.