The coroner’s office in Montezuma County, Colorado, is pushing back against the state’s claim that a third Coloradan has died in the town of Cortez due to the coronavirus.
Montezuma County Coroner George Deavers said that while the unidentified person did test positive for the coronavirus, the cause of death was alcohol poisoning, according to the Durango Herald.
Deavers says an investigation he and a pathologist conducted showed the person’s blood alcohol content was 0.55, seven times higher than the legal driving limit, and determined ethanol toxicity was the cause of death. A BAC of 0.3 is typically considered lethal.
“COVID was not listed on the death certificate as the cause of death. I disagree with the state for listing it as a COVID death and will be discussing it with them this week,” Deavers said Tuesday.
The controversy comes as people across the United States are becoming increasingly skeptical of coronavirus data that’s been provided, with some believing the death count is higher than what the government figures show and some believing it’s lower.
White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Deborah Birx reportedly suggested coronavirus death figures in the U.S. could be inflated by up to 25% due to the way deaths have been classified in hospitals.
“There is nothing from the CDC that I can trust,” Birx allegedly said.
President Trump has also expressed skepticism about the total number of coronavirus deaths, while coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci thinks the number of deaths is higher than being reported.
States across the country have had issues accurately recording coronavirus deaths.
Officials in Pennsylvania, for example, recently removed 200 people from its coronavirus death toll amid frustration from coroners’ offices, while Colorado officials previously announced that the death count was going to jump due to older cases being added to the data.
