ACEP Rebuts President Trump’s False Statements about Overcounting COVID-19 Deaths

WASHINGTON, D.C.—In response to President Trump’s baseless claims about physicians miscounting deaths due to COVID-19, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) released the following statement on October 25:

“On behalf of the nation’s emergency physicians, ACEP is appalled by President Trump’s reckless and false assertions that physicians are overcounting deaths related to COVID-19. Emergency physicians and other health care workers have risked their lives day in and day out for almost a year battling the greatest public health crisis in a generation—all while watching countless patients die alone, going to work without sufficient protection equipment, and struggling with crushing anxiety about getting sick or spreading the virus to their loved ones.

To imply that emergency physicians would inflate the number of deaths from this pandemic to gain financially is offensive, especially as many are actually under unprecedented financial strain as they continue to bear the brunt of COVID-19. These baseless claims not only do a disservice to our health care heroes but promulgate the dangerous wave of misinformation which continues to hinder our nation’s efforts to get the pandemic under control and allow our nation to return to normalcy.”