Fact check: Deceptive edit of CDC director's interview goes viral
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Fact check: Deceptive edit of interview with CDC director misleads on COVID-19 deaths

Bayliss Wagner
USA TODAY

The claim: CDC director said over 75% of people who died from COVID had at least four comorbidities

In early January, a deceptively edited clip of an interview with Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, circulated widely online.

Social media posts about the video led thousands of Facebook and Twitter users to believe Walensky had said that over 75% of Americans who died of COVID-19 had four or more comorbidities and were thus "unwell to begin with." Many viewed the statement as evidence that the government had admitted to inflating COVID-19 death counts.

"According to the CDC director 75% of Covid deaths occurred in people with at least FOUR comorbidities!" self-described conservative influencer Micah Beckwith wrote in a Facebook post on Jan. 10. "We were told (COVID-19) killed like that of the Spanish flu or the Black Plague. But finally the truth is beginning to resound and I pray it sets you free."

One of the most viral posts of the clip came from conservative sports and political commentator Clay Travis, whose Jan. 10 tweet received over 20,000 retweets and 47,000 likes in less than 48 hours. Over 1,500 Facebook users, including Beckwith, directly linked to his post.

"The CDC director just said over 75% of ‘covid deaths’ occurred in people with at least four comorbidities," Travis captioned the video. "Since Biden can’t shut down COVID, suddenly all this data is getting shared publicly."  

But the original version of the clip, which came from a Good Morning America broadcast, shows Walensky was presenting the results of a study on vaccinated individuals – not making a statement about COVID-19 deaths in the general population.  

The study found that over 75% of vaccinated individuals who died of COVID-19 had four or more risk factors for the virus, which include chronic conditions and being over age 65. USA TODAY could not find data on the percentage of all victims of COVID-19 who had four or more preexisting comorbidities or risk factors. 

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USA TODAY reached out to Travis and other users who shared the claim for comment. When contacted by USA TODAY, Travis did not address the viral clip.

On March 18, 2021, Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Rochelle Walensky testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on the federal coronavirus response on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo by Susan Walsh / POOL / AFP)

Walensky was discussing study about vaccinated 

Raw footage of the interview from ABC shows Walensky is referring to a study on vaccinated individuals when she says 75% of those who died had several comorbidities. 

In the interview, Good Morning America co-host Cecilia Vega asked Walensky about "this new study showing just how well vaccines are working to prevent severe illness," and the CDC director responded.

"You know, really important study, if I may just summarize it," Walensky said. "A study of 1.2 million people who were vaccinated between December (2020) and October (2021) demonstrated that severe disease occurred in about 0.015% of the people who were — received their primary series — and death in 0.003% of those people." 

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This and Vega's question both provide the context for the next comment, which the social media posts focused on.

"The overwhelming number of deaths, over 75%, occurred in people who had at least four comorbidities," she said. "So really, these are people who were unwell to begin with. And yes, really encouraging news in the context of omicron. This means not only just to get your primary series but to get your booster series." 

Though Walensky used the term "comorbidities," the study she was referencing actually examined "risk factors" in people who died of COVID-19. It found that roughly 78% of vaccinated participants who died of COVID-19-associated causes had four or more risk factors for the virus.

Comorbidity refers to multiple diseases being present at the time of death. Many people who die of COVID-19 also have chronic conditions such as hypertension, obesity and diabetes, but comorbidities also include acute conditions related to COVID-19 itself, such as pneumonia, Dr. Sameer Kadri, a senior author of the study and the head of clinical epidemiology in the NIH Clinical Center’s critical care department, said in an email to USA TODAY.

Risk factors, on the other hand, refer to long-term chronic conditions and other factors that can put people more at risk of dying of COVID-19. Risk factors identified in the study included dementia, pulmonary diseases, liver diseases and diabetes, as well as age over 65.

Several omissions warped Walensky's comments 

Several edits of the original interview obscured the subject of Walensky's comment.

Walensky's introduction of the study and its participants was cut from the version of the ABC video that aired on Jan. 7, according to transcripts tweeted by CNN fact-check reporter Daniel Dale. (ABC noted that the cuts were made due to length constraints.) However, Vega's question still made clear that the two were discussing a study of vaccinated people.

Travis and others then shared versions of the interview that omitted all but a short mention of the virus from Vega and a few sentences of Walensky's response, which made it seem as if Walensky was referring to the virus in general. 

In these clips, only the end of Vega's question is left: "Given that, is it time to start rethinking how we're living with this virus, that it's potentially here to stay?" she says.

In the next scene, Walensky responds, "The overwhelming number of deaths, over 75%, occurred in people who had at least four comorbidities. So really, these are people who were unwell to begin with. And yes, really encouraging news in the context of omicron."

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ABC uploaded the uncut version of the segment to its website on Jan. 10, following pressure from the CDC, Mediate reported. By then, however, the misleading versions of that interview had been shared thousands of times in various Facebook posts, on YouTube and on Twitter.

Several prominent conservative figures also shared news of the director's purported statement between Jan. 7 and Jan. 10, including Ben Shapiro, who linked a Daily Wire article about the video on his Facebook page. The Daily Wire later corrected its story headline and content.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that Walensky said over 75% of people who died from COVID had at least four comorbidities. These claims are based on clips from Walensky's Good Morning America interview that crop out the interviewer's question. In the part that is cropped, it is clear the interviewer is asking Walensky about a study on vaccinated people, to which Walensky responded, "The overwhelming number of deaths, over 75%, occurred in people who had at least four comorbidities." 

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