For nearly two years, and with the midterm election coming up, conservatives and Republicans were vilified as conspiracy theorists for raising questions about COVID hospitalization numbers when it came to who was there because of COVID and who just happened to be infected. On Monday, CNN and anchor Jake Tapper finally arrived at the scene to ask the obvious questions after CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky admitted to Fox News that number is inflated by upwards of 40 percent.
Tapper prefaced his late revelation by prefacing to CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta that “the case numbers aren't really a significant as hospitalizations because what's important is how sick people are getting.”
And since CNN had obfuscated the idea that the CDC was misleading people, Tapper had to spell out what was going on:
Over the weekend the CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky was asked how many people are in the hospital FOR COVID versus how many people are in the hospital WITH COVID. Meaning they're there for some other reason and it's also true that they have COVID.
After playing a soundbite of Walensky admitting “up to 40 percent of the patients who are coming in with COVID are coming in not because they're sick with COVID but because they're coming in with something else,” Tapper seemed a bit surprised and called it “misleading”:
So the hospitals are still stretched thin because of this, so I’m not trying to take away from that. But if 40 percent in some hospitals – 40 percent of the people who have COVID don't necessarily have problematic COVID, they're there because they got in a car accident. They're there because, you know, they bumped their head and they're being included as in the hospital with COVID. That number seems kind of misleading.
Gupta deduced that Walensky was possibly using the numbers from New York State because “it sort of tracks with what she said. And according to Gupta’s recap of the data, “about 57 percent, these are COVID patients, admitted because of or complications from COVID. 43 percent admitted for other reasons and then diagnoses with COVID.”
“I think there needs to be transparency about that in terms of FOR or WITH COVID,” he added (emphasis added).
By the end of the segment, Tapper seemed to be a little irked by the CDC’s inflated numbers: “And we need the clearest picture possible if somebody’s in the hospital with a broken leg and they also have asymptomatic COVID that should not be counted as hospitalized with COVID, clearly.”
This cams a day after CNN's media apologist Brian Stelter decried the media and "doomsday doctors" for spreading "panic porn" about COVID. And now that they’ve realized there is a lot of lying going on, maybe they’ll have a clue to look into other statistics as well.
This sudden acknowledgment of what people have been saying for almost two years was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Panera Bread and Whole Foods Market. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Lead
January 10, 2022
4:06:53 p.m. Eastern(…)
JAKE TAPPER: You and I have talked about how the case numbers aren't really a significant as hospitalizations because what's important is how sick people are getting. So, hospitalizations and deaths much more important numbers than cases. And there's still over a thousand deaths a day from COVID.
Over the weekend the CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky was asked how many people are in the hospital FOR COVID versus how many people are in the hospital WITH COVID. Meaning they're there for some other reason and it's also true that they have COVID. Here's what she had to say.
[Cuts to video]
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY (CDC director): In some hospitals that we've talked to, up to 40 percent of the patients who are coming in with COVID are coming in not because they're sick with COVID but because they're coming in with something else and have had to -- have had COVID or omicron variant detected.
[Cuts back to live]
TAPPER: So the hospitals are still stretched thin because of this, so I’m not trying to take away from that. But if 40 percent in some hospitals – 40 percent of the people who have COVID don't necessarily have problematic COVID, they're there because they got in a car accident. They're there because, you know, they bumped their head and they're being included as in the hospital with COVID. That number seems kind of misleading.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA: Yeah, I agree, Jake. It surprises me that they've not been able to parse out that data more carefully. I think the data that Dr. Walensky’s quoting is from New York State and we've been following that data as well.
And I can show you what we've seen. It sort of tracks with what she said. But out of all the patients that are in the hospital, about 57 percent, these are COVID patients, admitted because of or complications from COVID. 43 percent admitted for other reasons and then diagnoses with COVID. I think there needs to be transparency about that in terms of FOR or WITH COVID.
The only thing I'll tell you, Jake, again, working in the hospital, is that at the time someone is then diagnosed with COVID, even if they didn't come in for that reason, it does take up a lot of resources then in terms of infection protocols, personal protective equipment, more testing, all that kind of stuff.
So, even though that may not have been the initial impetus to bring them into the hospital, it just requires a lot of energy and resources on behalf of the hospital staff and the testing and all that sort of stuff. So they -- we need to get better about being able to see this data. New York State, I think, is one of the few states that is presenting it that way, FOR or WITH COVID. But other states should follow suit.
The American Heart Association – I’m sorry the American Health Association says they have a hard time sort of separating out that data, but clearly New York State’s been able to do it. Other states should do it as well.
TAPPER: Yeah. We’re two years into this. And we need the clearest picture possible if somebody’s in the hospital with a broken leg and they also have asymptomatic COVID—
GUPTA: Yeah.
TAPPER: -- that should not be counted as hospitalized with COVID, clearly.
