Fact Check: CDC counts deaths as COVID even if that was not the cause

[Josh]

If we’d like to discuss something else, here’s something I learned first hand: we had a nursing home with 33 people in it. They all got vaccinated. Within a week, 11 died. 3 more died a few weeks later. At least 11 were marked as covid deaths.

If true, that should certainly be verifiable. Can you name the nursing home and say where it is?

I’d be happy to discuss privately. The reasons why I’d rather not share specific details I can also discuss privately.

[Bootstrap]

I’d be happy to discuss privately. The reasons why I’d rather not share specific details I can also discuss privately.

I'll send you a PM.

[Josh]

I’d be happy to discuss privately. The reasons why I’d rather not share specific details I can also discuss privately.

I'll send you a PM.

Thanks!

[Bootstrap]

If true, that should certainly be verifiable. Can you name the nursing home and say where it is?

I’d be happy to discuss privately. The reasons why I’d rather not share specific details I can also discuss privately.

Josh has given me specific information with plenty of detail. I am going to see what I can verify independently.

[Bootstrap]

If true, that should certainly be verifiable. Can you name the nursing home and say where it is?

I’d be happy to discuss privately. The reasons why I’d rather not share specific details I can also discuss privately.

Josh has given me specific information with plenty of detail. I am going to see what I can verify independently.

OK, here's what I have seen so far. You can look up statistics for this kind of thing for any nursing home facility here:

https://data.cms.gov/covid-19/covid-19- ... st-29-2021

That includes all Covid-19 cases and deaths, the vaccination status of people who got Covid-19 or died from it, the specific vaccine that was used, etc. I downloaded the data for the facility in question and looked at it. So far, at least, I cannot confirm what Josh said from this data.

Of course, it's possible that (1) I am misreading the data, or (2) the facility is falsifying data. To me, the first seems more likely than the second. But this is what I see so far.

[Bootstrap]

If we’d like to discuss something else, here’s something I learned first hand: we had a nursing home with 33 people in it. They all got vaccinated. Within a week, 11 died. 3 more died a few weeks later. At least 11 were marked as covid deaths.

Comment on the timing. It generally takes significantly longer than that to go from first positive test to hospitalization and death. The timing doesn't make sense to me, if they got Covid-19 from the vaccination, that many people dying within the first week seems highly unlikely.

[Soloist]

If we’d like to discuss something else, here’s something I learned first hand: we had a nursing home with 33 people in it. They all got vaccinated. Within a week, 11 died. 3 more died a few weeks later. At least 11 were marked as covid deaths.

Comment on the timing. It generally takes significantly longer than that to go from first positive test to hospitalization and death. The timing doesn't make sense to me, if they got Covid-19 from the vaccination, that many people dying within the first week seems highly unlikely.

I could be wrong, but I think Josh isn't saying they got Covid from the vaccine but rather that they were reported as a covid death.

[Josh]

If we’d like to discuss something else, here’s something I learned first hand: we had a nursing home with 33 people in it. They all got vaccinated. Within a week, 11 died. 3 more died a few weeks later. At least 11 were marked as covid deaths.

Comment on the timing. It generally takes significantly longer than that to go from first positive test to hospitalization and death. The timing doesn't make sense to me, if they got Covid-19 from the vaccination, that many people dying within the first week seems highly unlikely.

Nobody was hospitalised. They died in the nursing home (this is typically the norm, you don’t send people in their 80s on hospice care to an ICU and put them in ventilators).

[Josh]

If we’d like to discuss something else, here’s something I learned first hand: we had a nursing home with 33 people in it. They all got vaccinated. Within a week, 11 died. 3 more died a few weeks later. At least 11 were marked as covid deaths.

Comment on the timing. It generally takes significantly longer than that to go from first positive test to hospitalization and death. The timing doesn't make sense to me, if they got Covid-19 from the vaccination, that many people dying within the first week seems highly unlikely.

I could be wrong, but I think Josh isn't saying they got Covid from the vaccine but rather that they were reported as a covid death.

Correct - I believe they were tested as well and basically all tested positive.

[Josh]

I’d be happy to discuss privately. The reasons why I’d rather not share specific details I can also discuss privately.

Josh has given me specific information with plenty of detail. I am going to see what I can verify independently.

OK, here's what I have seen so far. You can look up statistics for this kind of thing for any nursing home facility here:

https://data.cms.gov/covid-19/covid-19- ... st-29-2021

That includes all Covid-19 cases and deaths, the vaccination status of people who got Covid-19 or died from it, the specific vaccine that was used, etc. I downloaded the data for the facility in question and looked at it. So far, at least, I cannot confirm what Josh said from this data.

Of course, it's possible that (1) I am misreading the data, or (2) the facility is falsifying data. To me, the first seems more likely than the second. But this is what I see so far.

Given they all died within a week of being vaccinated with the first dose, they would have been recorded as either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.