A county coroner is challenging Colorado state health officials for saying that a man who tested positive for COVID-19 died from the virus when his investigation showed the man had drunk himself to death, the Daily Mail reported over the weekend.
Montezuma County Coroner George Deavers determined that Sebastian Yellow, 35, died of acute alcohol poisoning after his blood alcohol content came back at almost seven times the legal limit, but the state’s Department of Public Health and Environment said he died from the coronavirus.
“They should have to be recording the same way I do,” Deavers told CBS Denver. “They have to go off the truth and facts and list it as such. It wasn’t COVID, it was alcohol toxicity. Yes, he did have COVID but that is not what took his life.”
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment told the station that "We classify a death as confirmed when there was a case who had a positive SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) laboratory test and then died. We also classify some deaths as probable."
Fox News pointed out that classifications such as Yellow's could mean the virus is overcounted, but some officials say the reality is the opposite due to other reasons.
Dr. Anthony Fauci recently told the Senate in testimony that undercounting could result from people who died at their home from the virus, but weren't counted or tested because they never reached the hospital.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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