Infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Wednesday called conspiracy theories suggesting the novel coronavirus death toll is inflated because sick people are dying with the virus — not because of it — "nothing but distractions."
What they're saying: Fauci said at the White House press briefing, "You will always have conspiracy theories when you have very challenging public health crises. They are nothing but distractions."
- Deborah Birx, the White House's coronavirus response coordinator, also noted on the "co-morbidities": "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," she added. "Having an underlying condition and getting this virus we know is particularly damaging to those individuals."
