Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis explained the rationale behind his state’s decision to revise its coronavirus death count downward.
During a Sunday morning appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” host Chris Wallace ended the interview by asking Polis about the state revising the count “from about 1,100 to 878.”
“One, why did you change that process of how you count them, the criteria for that. And two, do you think the number of deaths should be a political issue, as it seems to be becoming?” Wallace asked.
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“No, in fact, one of the reasons that we wanted to make sure we reported it out in a better way is to inspire confidence so that it wouldn’t be politicized, Chris,” Polis contended. “These are deaths that should not be politicized.”
“The CDC criteria included anybody who has died with COVID-19,” he explained. “What the people of Colorado and the people of the country want to know is how many people died of COVID-19. In our state about 900 have died from COVID-19, on their death certificate, or from the attending physician. About 1,100 have died with it. Those 200 in the middle, it might have been a contributing factor, but it wasn’t deemed the sole factor or the only factor in their death.”
The Colorado governor acknowledged that some “likely cases” may have been missed in the count also, but argued that “the numbers are all fairly close.” (RELATED: ‘We’re Data Driven’: Oklahoma Governor Spars With Chris Wallace Over Reopening State)
One of the more controversial stories of the previous counting method included a Colorado man listed among COVID-19 deaths who died of alcohol poisoning.