In a social media post, Desoto County Coroner Josh Pounders questioned the actual numbers of deaths reportedly caused by COVID-19. This is what Pounders said:
This post is not to take away the importance of any life or life lost during the “covid 19” pandemic. I sympathize with any family who has lost a loved one, however, I also believe its important to report facts to the public.
In the month of July 2020 the Desoto County Coroners office completed reports and in the process of filing 144 deaths with the state of Mississippi. This is an average month in Desoto County.
I normally don’t publicly post specifics of the deaths each month out of respect for family privacy and Hippa laws however I see on a daily bases in the last few months many facebook google experts and politicians with politically driven agendas driven by money reporting information that is twisted and false to the public.
These are your Facts for Desoto County in the month of July 2020.
Deaths and cause of death:
Cancer: 30
Congestive heart failure, heart disease, lung diseases, vascular disease, stroke, or the combination of more than one of these: 67
Cirrohsis of liver: 1
Infection or sepsis from a source of infection
such as Pneumonia: 18
Accidental trauma who passed away inside of Desoto County before reaching a hospital: 0
Renal disease: 2
Drug overdose: 1
Possible drug related deaths pending toxicology results from
Ms Medical examiners office: 5
Gastrointestinal complications (ex bowel obstruction, Gastrointestinal hemorrhage): 4
Alzheimers disease, Dementia, Parkinsons disease: 16
Homicide: 0
Total deaths investigated by Desoto County Coroners office in the month of July 2020: 144
These numbers include hospice deaths, hospital deaths, unexpected deaths in the home, and deaths of people who died before reaching a hospital to get medical care.
Deaths of people who had a + covid test result prior to or at the time of their death but does not necessarily mean covid was their primary cause of death: 24.
This number is included in the total number of deaths (144) above. All of the individuals who have died that were + for covid at some point have all had major medical problems prior to contracting covid. Most of these deaths have been of people over the age of 75. Many of these covid deaths are of people who were on hospice care with a terminal diagnoses. some of these deaths the person was + for covid but had no symptoms of covid prior to death but died of other medical problems. The department of health demands that these deaths be called a covid death and reports them as only that without reporting that many of them were terminal prior to a +test.
In my opinion, this has lead to unnecessary fear in the public and caused stress to the citizens in this county and across this country.
The one thing that is drastically up is cardio/pulmonary deaths. I attribute this to two things:
1. Stress of the covid 19 pandemic. Stress causes high blood pressure and high blood pressure with heart disease or vascular disease cause heart attacks and strokes.
2. People see the false information politicians report to the world on the internet. They see what the news reporter who has no knowledge of what he is reporting broadcast to the world. They become scared to leave home and go to the hospitals for fear of a virus when they need medical care for a more serious condition and ultimately have a cardiac arrest at home.
Although anytime life is lost I consider it a tragedy and sympathize with that family. I however believe that public fear and the government reporting only partial information is misleading and should not be. Covid is real and we should protect the elderly who are frail, however life for the average healthy majority must go on so that chaos in our community and across the country does not escalate and ultimately cause more deaths than any virus ever would.
Thank you for your time
and the opportunity to serve.
JP
