CDC slashed COVID-19 deaths in children by 24% after correcting a ‘coding logic error’
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reportedly removed tens of thousands of deaths linked to COVID-19 on Wednesday due to a “coding logic error.” The CDC also quietly decreased the total of children who died with COVID-19 by nearly a quarter, according to reports.
In the “Footnotes and Additional Information” section of the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker, the U.S. health agency noted, “On March 15, 2022, data on deaths were adjusted after resolving a coding logic error. This resulted in decreased death counts across all demographic categories.”
Before the change, the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker reported 1,755 all-time COVID-19 deaths for Americans under 18 years old. By Tuesday, the all-time pediatric COVID death figure plummeted to 1,339 – a decrease of 23.7%.
Commentators reacted to the data correction by suggesting that the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has been more accurate in death counts than the COVID Data Tracker.
American Commitment president Phil Kerpen wrote on Twitter, “CDC Data Tracker, the totally opaque and out-of-line with CDC’s more accurate (NCHS) count of pediatric COVID-associated deaths beloved by grifters and journalists was substantially (~24%) revised downward today.”
Former Fox News writer Kyle Becker reacted by saying, “The CDC’s Covid tracker quietly dropped childhood mortality by *416* reported deaths (24%). The NCHS, oddly, has pediatric deaths even lower: 921 (out of 73,508 from all causes). ‘Experts’ knowingly panicked parents and damaged America’s kids for political reasons. Criminals.”
Daniel Horowitz – senior editor at TheBlaze – wrote on Twitter, “The update saw the CDC cut 416 deaths among children and over 71,000 elsewhere, arriving at a total of just under 780,000.”
Before the correction, the CDC counted a total of 852,178 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. for all ages. After the correction, there were 779,921 COVID deaths.
The Epoch Times noted that the CDC also adjusted its COVID-19 death count in August 2021 “after the identification of a data discrepancy.”
In January, Fox News anchor Bret Baier asked CDC Director Rochelle Walensky if she could explain how many COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are “from COVID” versus “with COVID” but were coupled with other co-morbidities.
Walensky did not provide a specific answer, but said the “data will be forthcoming.”
“Yes, of course with Omicron we’re following that very carefully,” Walensky responded. “Our death registry, of course, takes a few weeks to — and is a — takes a few weeks to collect, and of course, Omicron has just been with us for a few weeks, but those data will be forthcoming.”
