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FACT BRIEF

Are deaths within 20 days of testing positive for COVID-19 automatically added to the pandemic's death toll?

By Dean Miller
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NO

A claim on social media was made with no offer of proof and in apparent ignorance of the systems by which cause of death is determined and documented.

Lead Stories found no publicly available evidence of a 20-day rule or guideline. The president of the national organization for medical examiners said it would be extremely unlikely that local coroners and medical examiners would submit to federal pressure to act against their training. 

"Death investigation and certification is a local process ... Given that there are over 2,000 different death investigation jurisdictions and thousands and thousands of individual death certifiers, the idea that there is some massive conspiracy is inconceivable to me," said Dr. James Gill, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners.

The CDC's April 2020 guidance emphasizes the medical professional's judgement in death determinations.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Centers for Disease Control Vital Statistics Reporting Guidance Report No. 3 ▪ April 2020
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.