Report: Washington Is Inflating COVID Death Tolls, Even After Getting Caught Once Before

A new report discovered Washington state’s Department of Health (DOH) is inflating its COVID-19 death totals “by potentially hundreds of deaths,” despite being reprimanded over the summer for similar errors.

Analyzing more than 2000 death certificates from as early as September, investigators at Freedom Foundation found that 170 so-called COVID deaths listed no reference to the virus, while another 171 death certificates simply listed COVID-19 as a “possible contributing factor,” but not a direct cause of death.

These results follow a Freedom Foundation report from May which noted that the state was overreporting COVID-19 cases by up to 13 percent by counting anyone who “tests positive for COVID-19 and subsequently dies” as a coronavirus death.

While the DOH and Gov. Jay Inslee originally denied the allegations, calling them “disgusting” and “malarkey,” the DOH “announced it would remove some deaths from its tally and start providing more detailed information about deaths attributed to COVID-19.” The overreporting, however, continued despite promises of change. (Read more from “Report: Washington Is Inflating COVID Death Tolls, Even After Getting Caught Once Before” HERE)

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