Minn. Sen. Dr. Scott Jensen: COVID-19 death rate might be artificially inflated

By Scott McClallen | The Center Square

Minnesota state Sen. Scott Jensen, R-Chaska, said that the death count for COVID-19 might be artificially inflated.

A physician as well as a politician, Jensen said doctors are being encouraged to attribute COVID-19 as a cause of death without laboratory testing.

In an April 7 interview with Chris Berg on Point of View, Jensen said he received a letter on Friday from the Department of Health telling him and other physicians to attribute COVID-19 as a cause of death without laboratory testing.

Jensen is referring to a case in which an 86-year-old patient died.

That patient had pneumonia and had been exposed to COVID-19, but was never tested for it.

COVID-19 should be written on that patient’s death certificate, the letter read.

Jensen said that was irregular; most death certificates only include facts, not presumptions.

“If someone has pneumonia and it’s in the middle of a flu epidemic, and I don’t have a test on influenza, I don’t diagnose influenza on the death certificate,” he said.

Jensen said this concerned him because those numbers might go into Minnesota’s models that have been used to justify an extended stay-at-home order, but that’s uncertain because the models haven’t been released to the public.

“When we start talking about going into the data that goes into the modeling, we have to ask ourselves the question: are we being forthright? Are we sharing with the public?” Jensen said.

Jensen said artificially inflated numbers can cause fear that also can paralyze people’s ability to think for themselves.

“Fear is a great way to control people,” he said. “And I worry about that. Sometimes we’re so darn interested in just jazzing up the fear factor that sometimes people’s ability to think for themselves is paralyzed if they’re frightened enough.

“That’s not where I want people to be. I want people to say, ‘We’re going to get through this. I’m going to use my head. I’m going to go to different sources. I’m going to listen to different sources. I’m going to think for myself,’” he said. “Because that’s what’s America’s about.”

The U.S. Department of Labor data estimates 111,119 Minnesotans have lost their jobs since the pandemic.

Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday extended Minnesota’s stay-at-home order through May 3, citing data that he hasn’t publicly released, although reporters have requested it several times.

Walz initially estimated that 74,000 Minnesotans could have died if the state took no action to curb COVID-19.

Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm on Wednesday said that because of social distancing and other state action, the projected death count on a low to moderate scale ranged from 6,000 to about 20,000.

The Minnesota Department of Health announced Thursday that it would provide an overview of state COVID-19 modeling at 11 a.m. Friday.

Image courtesy of Public domain

26 thoughts on “Minn. Sen. Dr. Scott Jensen: COVID-19 death rate might be artificially inflated

    • Tho death rate numbers cited in story are clearly manufactured as are the numbers of ppl supposedly infected, it is my belief that as the numbers plummet the evil numbercrunchers are rapidly devising new schemes to keep the numbers steady at very least. States are now going through past death rates and numbers ‘revising’ them posthumously – same revisionist history practiced in former USSR and all communist dictatorships is alive and well in the land of the free.

      However it takes a different breed of monster to know that sick ppl – mostly vulnerable populations – will die bc of ones political leanings and the leanings of those in positions of power and authority – which is happening right here in our publicly-funded pastoral theme park known as VT with its sunny-faced beaming-smiled governor and absent-minded professor heading up VTDOH.

      No wonder thousands of residents have fled – expecting Exodus to continue apace.

  1. Here’s a recent analysis by doctors about the Ventilators. They work on pressure not oxygen. If a patient has lung congestion due to being infected by the virus, what’s more important of the two? That’s their point, wrong procedure. Evaluate for yourself, I don’t believe this is fake news. It’s common sense. The doctor(s) concerns:

    MY comment to the analysis: What the Docs are saying makes sense. If the virus affects the lung and makes breathing harder, they need oxygen, not pressure. The Gov is pushing Ventilators (shortages etc) There’s been reports that a firm in the UK made ventilators for $500 and quickly with off the shelf items. Common sense doesn’t prevail in any government. Read this.

    The analysis:
    This past weekend (April 5, 2020) Health Impact News published a video plea from a NYC physician treating COVID19 patients in the ER and ICU units, claiming that what he was seeing was that patients were doing worse when put on ventilators. He stated: “I am a physician who has been working at the bedside of COVID+ patients in NYC. I believe we are treating the wrong disease and that we must change what we are doing if we want to save as many lives as possible. We don’t know where we’re going. We are putting breathing tubes in people and putting them on ventilators and dialing up the pressure to open their lungs. I’ve talked to doctors all around the country and it is becoming increasingly clear that the pressure we are providing may be hurting their lungs. That it is highly likely that the high pressures we are using are damaging the lungs of the patients we are putting breathing tubes in… we are running the ventilators in the wrong way…. COVID-19 patients need oxygen, they do not need pressure.” Yesterday, April 8, 2020, reporter Mike Stobbe of the Associated Press wrote an article stating that many doctors are now moving away from using these ventilators due to the “unusually high death rate” of those put on them. His report was picked up by many of the large corporate “mainstream” media outlets. Stobbe reports that normally 40% to 50% of patients put on ventilators die, but with patients tested positive for COVID19 that number jumps up to 80%. These mechanical ventilators are a huge business right now during the COVID19 crisis. President Trump forced General Motors to produce 30,000 of them and sell them to the government at “cost” for a reported $489 million. Billing for services rendered to use ventilators in the hospitals is also very high, with non-surviving patients who need mechanical ventilator services ranging from $27,000–$39,000 per patient.

  2. I’m sorry stardust, but I really think you could be more selective with your sources. Gateway Pundit, while entertaining, is widely known as an unreliable news source
    (see link at the end of my comment) .

    I’m no liberal, in fact I’m a lifeling a lifelong republican, a military member, and proud constitutional conservative. But, I also value facts and solid research, as it almost always ends up validating my intuition anyway, since I’m not a loony lefty! You may do well to simply leave your arguments at those based in fact, such as the FACT that TJ Donovan appears to be a power hungry self serving bureaucrat that could care less about the constitutions of our great state and country if they don’t serve his agenda… and that this lockdown might be a GOOD IDEA, and SUGGESTION from the government, it nevertheless is ILLEGAL if enforced by criminal penalty. Give people the facts and it’s amazing what they will do on their own.

    I also find it interesting that many keep noting how low the death rate is, and using it as a reason for this all being a massive conspiracy or over-reaction. Well, to me it makes a lot of sense it is low so far… since we have all been locked in our houses for weeks. While we can’t ever know what our hospitals may have looked like without the shutdowns, arguing that this was all overkill based on current state seems completely illogical. As someone who just lost a family member who was otherwise healthy to COVID-19 (a voting republican and veteran I might add), I can attest that this disease is very real, and should be treated with proper respect and caution. Does that mean shutting down entire states that may not have a single case, likely no. But it doesn’t mean we should brush it off either, or assume the current state of affairs wasn’t a prudent approach at least temporarily while more data could be gathered about this deadly disease.

    With love and respect,
    Chris

    https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-gateway-pundit/

    • In spite of your stated bona fides, the sources you advocate are the ones that are power hungry, while we have rank & files medical personnel (who actually practice instead of holding a government or media position) who do the work and save lives, knowing more about what is actually transpiring than anyone else. It’s time you and others start thinking for yourselves, question the the established wisdom, and exercise a few more brain cells. It is because of the mindset you entertain that we are now in such dire straits.

      By the way, being a military member, if you were ordered to go and collect firearms from citizens en masse, would you do so?

      • Thanks for the reply Ken! I’m not sure which sources you are under the impression I am advocating? I listed none, and actually encourage people to find their own sources. But, it also makes sense to verify that sources we call seek out are legitimate, and I think it’s fair to say that the gateway pundit has a certain agenda and may not be the most reputable source of information. After all, like most sites they are in the business of making money and getting people riled up is a great way to do so. Again, I’m not saying go to any source in particular as you seem to be implying. I don’t particularly recommend CNN, MSNBC even FOX, the latter of which I particularly enjoy for the opinions of many commentators such as Tucker Carlson, as they all have their own motivations for the articles they publish. I am saying if it is scientific evidence one seeks to base their personal opinion off of, a scientific journal that is not biased by a government or political force is a better place to start. In fact, I highly recommend to anyone who will listen to look at as many sources as possible before forming a conclusion. The conclusion I have come to after reviewing the intelligence available to us all at this time, is that this is a deadly disease (clearly, as around 100,000 people have died so far, if you believe the numbers coming out of china, which I don’t). We do not know how deadly, since almost every country has gone into a form of shutdown, so we can can only guess at what unfettered spread would look like. I believe I was clear in my post that I was against a mandated lock-down, but that I do believe staying at home might be the best solution for most people, in order to give front line doctors a chance to catch up and find some treatment solutions.

        As for you last question, I’m gonna give a hard no on that one. The oath we swear is to the Constitution, not to any man, and it is that way for a reason. We do swear to obey lawful orders, LAWFUL being the key word. In fact I cannot think of a single person out of the hundreds I have worked and trained with who would. The topic comes up more than you may think, as most of us are pretty right leaning, gun loving, red blooded Americans. Nobody from the military is coming for your guns, so it’s always kind of blown my mind why people worry about that when politicians threaten it like that loser Beto down in Texas say they are going to come for your guns. If he did, he’d be doing it unarmed and alone…

        For a bigger data point on that, since I seem to be getting kind of preachy on the “data and science” front (unintended), you should check out the compliance rate for the SAFE act and various other illegal “laws” in New York. The police there (I know a few personally) are simply not enforcing this. The rate at which people turned i their now “illegal” guns is sub 2% if I recall from the last time I checked. At best, it is being used to add charges to those already committing heinous crimes, for example a pedophile gets caught with an AR-15 or something. But no LEO’s are going out and knocking on doors or doing compliance checks, at all. It would do everyone well to remember who the average Joe is who signs up for these types of jobs (police/military). Most of us are just good ole boys who wanted to shoot free ammo on uncle sugar’s dime and make our communities a little safer.

        • Chris: I will first issue an apology for a generalization that was formed mostly on a posting by another commenter, to wit, that your cited sources are power hungry. However, you did reference mediabiasfactcheck.com, a website very similar in their goal to identify “fake news.” That in itself is enough to tell anyone capable of independent thought that they are of the same stripe as Snope and Politifact. The balance of your content implies that the believable information sources are the likes of Dr. Fauci, the CDC, the WHO, the FDA, some mainstream media outlets, and likely Phil Scott. Those and their kin are worse than biased and definitely megalomaniacal. Many “scientific” publications are influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, governments, or take their direction from the WHO and the CDC. I would daresay you’d list Alex Jones as unreliable, yet he backs up his assertions with real documentation. The point is that everyone should not take the word of any web assertion solely on its own merit, but check it against a multitude of other sources. When the validated documentation is present, that should end all argument. So, is the Wuhan virus deadly? Absolutely. But is it a killer in the image of the Spanish Flu? Evidence to date doesn’t verify that, especially when the vaunted “authorities” on the matter are now backpedaling on the death projections and it is no known that medical facilities around the country have been put under orders (from whence they originated is still not entirely certain) to fudge the statistics of deaths. But we do know that the highest incidences of demise occur among those at 60 or older, more so those having pre-existing health issues. We also have numerous reports from physicians who have employed the plaquenil-azithromycin-zinc treatment on patients with 100% success for what is now thousands of patients. All of this makes it clear that the nationwide employment of martial law without due process is completely unwarranted, yet most of the “reliable” news sources lend no credence to that and are, in fact, denying it. So I would urge more reliance on your congnitive abilities to review information rather than turning to others for fact-checking.

          The question about confiscation orders was pertinent if not off subject. Your response affords some slight relief. I would hope you would inspire others in your unit or with whom you come in contact to adopt it. But the general assertions you make following your personal reaction do not coincide with fact. I ask the readers to recall New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, when General Russel L. Honoré led the National Guard to confiscate all weapons in the region. Few refused the order; the majority obeyed. We also have the National Guard of Virginia now hinting that should Northam issue a confiscation order, they will enforce it. And a majority of law enforcement around the country are also seizing weapons under unconstitutional laws. At the federal office where I had worked until 2016, a manager who was a retired Army officer said openly that some people should not own weapons…based on his opinion of who was qualified. If such people – upon who rely for defense and the upholding of our Constitutions – act in this way regarding firearms, then how will they regard the overall limitations placed upon governments by our founding fathers? And we should all wonder how many William Calleys are in our armed forces, our law enforcement, our government. How many Adolf Eichmanns?

      • Red China roadshow continues:
        EXCLUSIVE: China Coronavirus is Linked to the Former Leader of the Chinese Communist Party, His Family and Soros Investments. Does This Surprise Anyone?
        By Jim Hoft Published April 13, 2020 at 9:12am 143 Comments
        https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/exclusive-china-coronavirus-linked-former-leader-chinese-communist-party-family-soros-investments-surprise-anyone/

        UN Agency WHO a total fraud:
        The WHO Lied and Created a Global Panic: Second Extensive Study Finds Coronavirus Mortality Rate Is 0.4% Not 3.4% — Similar to Seasonal Flu
        By Jim Hoft Published April 12, 2020 at 4:35pm 256 Comments
        https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/lied-created-global-panic-second-extensive-study-finds-coronavirus-mortality-rate-0-4-not-3-4-similar-seasonal-flu/

        We are being lied to about the danger, risk and scope of Wuhan Flu as well as its origen. State governors and their Health Departments including VT – who are banning FDA-approved off label use of Hydroxychlorcloquine including legislature and their media sponsors whilst watching and merely reporting the ‘cases’ and deaths have blood on their hands. All of life is sacred – the elderly are no different but these Trump-hating fascists are happy to rid our world of those who recognize how our world works and more likely to stand in the way of their globalist schemes.

        Shame on all.

    • Nerve struck much Chris…Happy Good Friday – after all – concern trolls might be ppl too. Your leftwing ‘factchecker’ lists Fox unfavorably – may I suggest you take your own advice:
      https://mediabiasfactcheck.com

      But Kos passes w/flying colors…hahahaha – pretty sure you’re not a conservative lol but obviously tighty whities are in a knot…

      • Following Alex Jones for approx 20 years. Have recently become astonished @ how quickly entire media including Fox News – has jumped on the coronapocalypse narrative and really disappointed. Tucker, Sean, Laura are holding down the Fox fact-fort but network including FBN has mostly caved to globalist narrative canning Trish Regan and libertarian Kennedy for not following lockstep. Fox Business is waaay better during the day but radio for both is sufficient bc I don’t actually have time to watch it.

        What is happening now is reminiscent of failed US and EU allies attempted coup in Ukraine which got Vlad all riled up – the same mass media-driven staged globalist agenda and resultant antics driving the message.

        Alex Jones – like Comrade Sanders – has been preaching same message forever however AJ is opposite of Sanders’ communist and globalist agenda. He’s been all over antiglobalism for as long I’ve been following his message – nothing has changed. What he has been telling us for two decades has now become the new normal.

        His show is four hours 11-3 daily – as a cordcutter I use a Roku device to connect to all TV and radio media networks plus my smartphone as my internet and TV connection – this allows me to listen during the day and catch up on what was missed at night – I just leave it on.

        He’s online but staying connected to my computer system for that length of time is cumbersome.
        Show
        https://www.infowars.com/
        Featured Stories
        https://www.infowars.com/category/featured-stories/

  3. An interesting article from Smithsonian Magazine. The “news” is full of Fake News. Have to weed out the chaff (haying term) for the good. The article addresses this point. Also now established the deaths due to the virus is inflated, by their own statements.

    The article:
    How to Avoid Misinformation About COVID-19
    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-avoid-misinformation-about-covid-19-180974615/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20200409-daily-responsive&spMailingID=42228425&spUserID=MTAxMjM1NjA4MDIwNgS2&spJobID=1741058085&spReportId=MTc0MTA1ODA4NQS2
    By Lila Thulin smithsonianmag.com April 9, 2020

    False information about the pandemic is rampant; here’s how experts say you can identify what news to trust and what might be faulty.

    In these comments there certainly are many variations of thought and perhaps facts. The Dome crowd listens / reads what they want to observe and react according to their thought process and liberalism and notably forced unconstitutional demands onto the public.

  4. Hey Doc, when your dead you’re DEAD! Rather the folks would over state then look the other way. We’re ALL in this together and should pay attention to the experts.

    • So, according to this assertion, we need to adopt the current unconstitutional standards of tyranny for everything from “climate change,” gun control, and every disease from which people die. I trust everyone is paying attention to these rationalizations.

      • So why haven’t you exerted the same concerns about the killing of babies via abortion? “…when you’re dead, you’re DEAD!”

    • What and who are the “experts”? Made a statement, statements should be inclusive with bonafide data. Unverified statements are cheap, facts are gold. There’s space to include herein if yo can divulge.

    • “When you’re dead, you’re dead.”

      Good point. When restaurants were open, we had 30 people die each day from drunk driving in the US, and that makes 10,950 deaths per year. Who knows what the global count would be? So what we should have done is we should have had a 24/7 news cycles on drunk driving deaths and then closed down every bar and forbade restaurants from serving alcohol, because by the logic of the current panic, the deaths weren’t worth the silly freedom of being able to have a drink in a restaurant.

      And BTW, did you know that our dear Dr. Fauci, the fear-monger-in-chief, has said that the case fatality rate of COVID-19 is close to that of a bad flu? Here it is:

      “On the basis of a case definition requiring a diagnosis of pneumonia, the currently reported case fatality rate is approximately 2%. In another article in the Journal, Guan et al. report mortality of 1.4% among 1099 patients with laboratory-confirmed Covid-19; these patients had a wide spectrum of disease severity. If one assumes that the number of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic cases is several times as high as the number of reported cases, the case fatality rate may be considerably less than 1%. This suggests that the overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1%) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) ….” March 26, 2020, the New England Journal of Medicine. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2002387

      Ya can’t make this stuff up.

  5. How do you start a financial disaster, well if you’re the CCP you start a virus
    and let it spread and watch the world fall apart !!

    There is no doubt this virus can be and is deadly to some, just like all the other
    viruses we deal with every year.

    The Cities Like NY, with a population of 9M, everybody elbow to elbow mass
    transit and then they did not react in time, the Governor tried to step up once
    he realized the City had a problem, but they are still allowing overseas flights
    in every day and they complain about the death rates ……. Idiots.

    We will get over this with self-isolation and better sanitation practices, medications
    and hopefully a vaccine, but don’t hold you’re breath on that one.

    The Country needs to start to open up for business, there are plenty of jobs that
    people have and can remain at a distance from one another, wear safety equipment
    face mask, gloves.

    China, be it a bad experiment or biowarfare, they knew what they were doing and
    the world suffered………….. they need to be held accountable.

  6. How to create a pandemic:
    Inflate death rates of a disease that leaves a majority of people with mild symptoms or no symptoms.

    Let’s ask ourselves: is a disease that leaves most people with mild or no symptoms and rarely causes real harms in children deserving to be put on a pedestal with the plague, smallpox, and cholera? Does this disease deserve the hysteria we’ve bestowed upon it, thanks in large part to our fear-monger-in-chief, Dr. Fauci?

    Is this disease really worth shutting down the entire economy?

    No, no, and no.

  7. Let the Pinnochio Awards begin…or continue if one prefers…
    Same MN MD/Senator:
    HUGE! MN Senator and Doctor: Hospitals Get Paid More to List Patients as COVID-19 and Three Times as Much if the Patient Goes on Ventilator (VIDEO)
    By Jim Hoft Published April 9, 2020 at 12:01pm 226 Comments
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/huge-mn-senator-doctor-hospitals-get-paid-list-patients-covid-19-three-times-much-patient-goes-ventilator-video/
    Pants on fire much? The liars and their whoppers exposed – was a massive hoax all along:
    “If You Do the Models of the Models” – NOW SHE’S CAUGHT AND CONFUSED – March 30 Transcript Reveals Dr. Birx Lied to American Public About IHME Models (VIDEO)
    By Jim Hoft Published April 9, 2020 at 10:25am 423 Comments
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/models-models-now-caught-confused-march-30-transcript-reveals-dr-birx-lied-american-public-ihme-models-video/

    “What is going on? After shutting down the government and killing the greatest economy in the world due to deathly estimates from specialists on the coronavirus, the data is showing that this may be one great big mistake or hoax”
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/strange-total-us-deaths-march-2020-actually-15-average-prior-four-years/
    Corrupt fraud WHO Chief shares a bed w/Communist Chinese Party thugs:

    Corrupt WHO Leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Hits Back at President Trump (VIDEO) By Jim Hoft Published April 8, 2020 at 2:34pm 409 Comments
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/dont-politicize-virus-dont-want-body-bags-corrupt-china-centric-leader-tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus-lectures-president-trump-video/

    • Certainly glad your web sites were accepted by TNR. Given your wording intertwined with the supportive informational web sites makes for a construction of the complete word quilt. A beautiful pattern. A lot of thought and research is appreciated on my part. This also applies to others in the TNR articles. Comments tie it all together and give some semblance to normalcy to the people outside the Dome. We may on occasion have difference of opinion, but it’s healthy and certainly not to the differences with the electorate in the Dome (mostly all flatlander socialists). We have a common goal as most of the commentators. Thanks for providing me with info, I’m-a-learning. Wish commenters that have opinions back up their opinions with data.

      You can tell a socialist flatlander; verbal attacks and no subjective data.
      Missouri is the “Show Me State”, vague commenters, show me.

      • And many thanks for your committment Tom to posting stories and sourced links. And TNR for its own stories, allowing the info posted by readers to be examined and truthful info published.

  8. Oh, shock and surprise. But we need ID-2020 so lets just call them all C-19 deaths.

  9. One of the most sensible critiques I’ve read. This physician knows what he’s talking about. When this pandemic ends, many states will not see any increase in death rates compared to last year.

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