Twitter deletes Trump’s retweeted claim minimizing virus death toll

After President Donald Trump retweeted a claim that discounted the coronavirus death toll in the United States over the weekend, Twitter took down the post that spread false information on Sunday.

The tweet originally was posted by “Mel Q,” a follower of the baseless conspiracy theory QAnon, which posits that the president is battling a cabal of Satan-worshiping child sex traffickers. It was copied from a Facebook post and claimed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had “quietly updated the COVID number to admit that only 6%” of reported deaths — or about 9,000 — “actually died from Covid.”

The rest were people who “had 2-3 other serious illnesses,” said the tweet, which has since been replaced with a message saying it “is no longer available because it violated the Twitter Rules.” A Twitter spokesperson said the tweet violated the company’s COVID-19 misinformation policy.

The claim appears to be a reference to the CDC’s Aug. 26 update to its death data and resources page, which noted that in 6% of reported deaths, COVID-19 “was the only cause mentioned.” However, that does not mean only 6% of reported deaths are attributed to the virus — it means 94% of people had at least one additional factor contributing to their deaths.

The president also retweeted a link to an article by farright Gateway Pundit — which remains on his page — containing the “Mel Q” tweet and, using the 6% figure to attack members of Trump’s own coronavirus task force.

“So let’s get this straight — based on the recommendation of doctors Fauci and Birx the

US shut down the entire economy based on 9,000 American deaths due entirely to the China coronavirus?” said the article.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany justified Trump’s retweet as purely informative in her Monday news briefing.

“He was highlighting new CDC information that came out that was worth noting,” she said, without acknowledging a question if he was attempting to downplay the country’s death toll.

A representative for the agency did not immediately respond to questions about Trump’s retweet.

“Co-morbidities” reported by the CDC include heart disease, obesity, diabetes and hypertension — conditions that can make a person more vulnerable to the virus. Each would be listed on a person’s death certificate, along with COVID-19.