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RALEIGH, N.C. — A UNC Health physician wants to set the record straight about posts on social media claiming only 6 percent of COVID-19 deaths are legitimately from the coronavirus.

Twitter removed a post with that false claim over the weekend, but not before it was retweeted by President Donald Trump.

About 183,000 people have died in the United States after testing positive for the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said “for 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned” on the death certificates. That led people on social media to claim the other 94 percent died from underlying conditions, not the virus.

"It doesn’t mean that those were people who are going to get sick and die anyway," said Dr. Christopher Kelly, a cardiologist at UNC Rex Hospital in Raleigh. "Probably, in most of those cases, they would have been fine and alive right now if they had not contracted COVID-19."

Kelly said the 6 percent of death certificates that list only COVID-19 were likely filled out incorrectly.

"You don’t catch the virus and then just fall over dead," he said. "You get the virus and then develop respiratory failure or pneumonia or multi-organ failure, and then you die. That’s just how death works, and you are supposed to list those things on the death certificate."

UNC Rex Hospital cardiologist Dr. Christopher Kelly blasts a "shockingly bad interpretation" of CDC data regarding COVID-19 deaths.

AS WE HEAD TO THE END OF THE WEEK. TEMPERATURES IN THE MID-90S HOT AND HUMID. >>> THANK YOU. A MAJOR HEADLINE OVER THE WEEKEND REGARDING A CDC REPORT ON COVID-19 DEATHS. IT MADE THE ROUNDS ONLINE AND QUICKLY DREW CRITICISM FROM HEALTH EXPERTS. THE CDC PUBLISHED DATA REGARDING DEATH CERTIFICATES AND COVID-19 SAYING ONLY SIX PERCENT LISTED COVID-19 AS THE CAUSE OF DEATH. THE NEWS OUTLETS AND THE PRESIDENT UNDERSTOOD THIS TO MEAN 94% OF COVID-19 DEATHS HAD UNDERLYING HEALTH CONDITIONS. TWITTER REMOVED A TWEET SHARED BY THE PRESIDENT AND DREW BACKLASH FROM HEALTH EXPERTS INCLUDING DR. CHRIS KELLY A CARDIOLOGIST JOINING US. YOU CALLED THIS SHOCKINGLY BAD INTERPRETATION OF WHAT THE CDC WAS TRYING TO SAY. PUT IT IN TO PERSPECTIVE. >> YES, THANKS DAVID AND THANKS FOR HAVING ME ON. SO THE QUARANTINE HAS BEEN HARD ON EVERYONE AND EVERYBODY LOOKING TO GET BACK TO LIFE AS NORMAL. THIS REPORT FROM THE CDC IS NOT THAT. SO AS YOU SAY, THEY ISSUED A REPORT DESCRIBING THE DEATH CERTIFICATES OF PEOPLE THAT DIED OF COVID-19. AS YOU SAY IT HIGHLIGHTS THE FACT THAT IN ONLY SIX PERCENT OF CASES WITH COVID-19 THE ONLY CAUSE OF DEATH LISTED. BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN PEOPLE INCLUDING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES THAT 94% OF THE COVID-19 DEATHS WERE NOT FROM COVID-19 OR WERE IN PEOPLE THAT WERE SICK AND GOING TO DIE ANY WAY. WHICH IS INACCURATE AND COLD- HEARTED VIEW OF HUMAN ILLNESS. IN FACT WHAT HAPPENED IS THAT WHEN YOU GET COVID-19 YOU DON'T FALL OVER DEAD THE NEXT DAY. YOU GET SICK AND GO TO RESPIRATORY FAILURE AND YOU DEVELOP INFECTION AND SEPSIS AND OTHER PROBLEMS AND THOSE CAUSE YOUR DEATH. YOU WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN ANY OF THOSE THINGS IF YOU DIDN'T HAVE COVID-19 IN THE FIRST PLACE BUT THEY WILL BE LISTED ON YOUR DEATH CERTIFICATE AS THE CAUSE OF YOUR DEATH. AND THOSE ARE THE CONDITIONS THAT THE CDC IS FIGHTING IN 94% OF COVID-19 DEATHS. >> OFF OF THE TOP YOU MENTIONED SOMETHING THAT IS SO IMPORTANT. PEOPLE FROM THE BEGINNING, SOME HAVE PUSHED BACK ON THE NUMBERS SAYING THIS IS MISLEADING. THIS ILLNESS IS NOT AS SERIOUS AS THE GOVERNMENT IS SAYING. TO THOSE PEOPLE WHAT DO YOU SAY? >> I WOULD SAY THAT EVEN IF YOU WANT TO ASSUME THERE IS SOME BIAS IN THE DATA LOOK AT TOTAL DEATHS IN THE UNITED STATES. YEAR TO YEAR THE NUMBER OF DEATHS THAT OCCUR IN THE UNITED STATES IS ROUGHLY CONSTANT. BUT THIS YEAR SO FAR THERE HAVE BEEN MORE THAN 200,000 MORE DEATHS THAN WOULD BE EXPECTED IN THE NORMAL YEAR. SO ALTHOUGH WE CAN QUIBBLE ABOUT HOW DEATH CERTIFICATES ARE WRITTEN AND HOW THE CAUSE OF DEATH IS ASCERTAINED. THERE IS A QUARTER MORE MILLION DEATHS THAN NORMAL AND NO PLAUSIBLE REASON FOR THOSE DEATHS TO OCCUR OTHER THAN COVID-19. >> DR. CHRIS KELLY WITH YOU. WE WILL HAVE TO WRAP IT UP THERE BECAUSE OF THE BAD WEATHER TODAY. BUT I HOPE YOU WILL COME BACK AND CONTINUE TO TALK ABOUT THIS AND WHEN YOU SEE THAT INFORMATION THAT MAY BE OUT THERE IN THE FUTURE, BE QUICK TO TELL US THERE IS ANOTHER WAY TO LOOK AT IT.

David Crabtree

Matthew Burns

Extra 200,000-plus deaths in US this year attributable to COVID-19, Raleigh physician says

Dr. Christopher Kelly, UNC Rex cardiologist

One thing is for sure, Kelly said: more people are dying during the pandemic.

"That is because of COVID. Nothing else has substantially changed in the past six months in this country," he said.

Although the number of deaths has declined from highs in April and May, he said COVID-19 continues to pose a serious threat.

"Social distancing and mask wearing work, and we should continue those until we have compelling evidence they are no longer needed, and we do not have that evidence right now," he said.

Joe Fisher

UNC cardiologist refutes social media claim that virus death toll is inflated

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UNC cardiologist refutes social media claim that virus death toll is inflated

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