Doctor tells skeptical CNN hosts that COVID deaths are being 'overcounted': People need 'accurate reporting'

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Leana Wen tells CNN U.S. has been ‘overcounting’ COVID deaths: ‘We just need the truth’

CNN medical analyst Leana Wen told CNN on Tuesday that the U.S. has been "overcounting" the deaths and hospitalizations of patients due to COVID-19 and stressed the importance of "transparent reporting" on the actual numbers.

CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen told somewhat skeptical network hosts on Tuesday that the U.S. has been "overcounting" the deaths and hospitalizations of patients due to COVID-19 and stressed the importance of "transparent reporting" on the actual numbers.

In response to questions about whether Wen’s claims could be "fodder for conspiracy theorists," Wen simply stated "we just need the truth," and mentioned that the U.S. medical community needs to fine tune a better way to record COVID-19’s harm to the community.

Wen, a former director of Planned Parenthood, made the comments during Tuesday’s episode of "CNN This Morning."

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CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen explained to "CNN This Morning" how hospitals may be "overcounting" COVID-19 deaths. (Screenshot/CNN)

The interview followed Wen’s bombshell Washington Post column from last week in which she cited epidemiologists who told her the amount of deaths and hospitalizations primarily caused by the virus may be only 30% of what’s been reported. 

"Can you explain why you believe COVID deaths are being overcounted?" co-host Don Lemon asked.

Wen cited vaccinations and natural immunity in reducing severe coronavirus outcomes since the start of the pandemic.

"Hospitals are still routinely testing everyone who’s getting admitted for COVID," Wen said. "We’re seeing many people who are hospitalized with COVID, and I think it’s important to separate out who is being hospitalized because of it. Because there are a lot of people who are still very concerned about their risk from COVID and we need to give them the most accurate data possible so that they can better gauge their risks. There are people still not resuming indoor dining or going to the gym or socializing. We have to give them the most accurate reporting as possible."

Wen's piece claimed the numbers recorded of people who had COVID incidentally during their hospital stays were not being separated from the numbers of people who were hospitalized or died due to COVID-19. 

In the piece, she cited physician Robin Dretler, who claimed, "Since every hospitalized patient gets tested for COVID many are incidentally positive." Wen herself added a point about gunshot victims, for example, saying, "If these patients die, COVID might get added to their death certificate along with the other diagnoses. But the coronavirus was not the primary contributor to their death and often played no role at all."

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CNN medical analyst Leana Wen wrote a column Friday claiming it appears that hospitals may have been overcounting COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly)

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On CNN, Wen told the anchors that patients should still be recorded as having COVID-19, but broached "a better way to do this."

Wen mentioned how another epidemiologist she cited came up with a way to record who was hospitalized due to COVID versus who was in the hospital and had COVID using the steroid dexamethasone. Wen began by stating that "in cases of hospitalizations that do not involve dexamethasone it’s very unlikely that the primary cause is COVID." 

The epidemiologist she cited prompted her hospital, Tufts Medical Center, to start "reporting both the total hospitalizations with COVID as well as the total hospitalizations with dexamethasone, which are the hospitalizations for which COVID is the primary cause, and they found that about 30% of the current hospitalizations are actually for COVID as opposed to 70% with COVID. So, I think that’s the kind of distinction we need to be making."

The anchors seemed somewhat rueful of her claims. Co-host Kaitlan Collins, formerly a White House reporter, recalled speaking with health officials during the Trump administration who were "skeptical" of that theory of overcounting and asked what evidence she had.

"This is the reason this kind of transparent reporting is going to be so important," Wen said. "There is a way for us to look at death certificates and also to look at medical records of individuals prior to their death."

She went on to say there needed to be three categories: COVID-19 as the primary cause of death, the contributing cause of death – such as pushing someone with kidney disease into organ failure – or merely incidental, such as a gunshot victim who happened to test positive for the virus.

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At another point, co-anchor Poppy Harlow asked whether Wen’s assertion could "give fodder to conspiracy theorists and those who downplay COVID, to anti-vaxxers."

"I’m sure you thought about that, right?" she asked.

"It’s interesting that I have had criticism on both sides," Wen said. "There are people who have said, ‘Well, why are you saying we’re overcounting COVID deaths now? You should have said this two-and-a-half years ago.’ There are others who have said, ‘Well we’re not overcounting them,’ and give various reasons as to why. I think at the end of the day we just need the truth."

Pedestrians wearing facemasks walk past a sign posting Covid-19 requirements in front of a store in Hollywood, California on November 2, 2021. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images) (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

In addition to a brief stint at Planned Parenthood, Wen was previously health commissioner for Baltimore.