Did Fauci Really Say More Kids Have Died of COVID Than the Flu?

Anthony Fauci has the most punchable face right now. The man goes back and forth on everything. He admits that store-bought masks don’t work to curb the spread of COVID. The NIH looks like they were serious players in the research that created the virus that most likely escaped from a lab in Wuhan. He was against a study that did not recommend COVID vaccine boosters, now he’s changing his tune. He’s the QB1 concerning the 'get vaccinated but also stay inside' narrative that undercut the whole vaccine push. It rightfully generated skepticism about whether the vaccine even worked. Now, he’s dropped Nagasaki-sized bombs of misinformation about COVID, kids, and the flu. He said that we’ve lost more kids to COVID than the flu. That’s simply a lie. And the CDC’s own data proves that:

Fauci: pic.twitter.com/ifbDPMA7cs
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) September 19, 2021

Did Anthony Fauci lie when he said more children have died from the virus than ever have died from the flu? Unless you think he's an incompetent boob that didn't learn a thing in 50 years in public health (hold the jokes please), then yes. And I will demonstrate that here.
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) September 18, 2021

So far, there have been 439 deaths of children ages 0-17 *with* COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. Remember, this is over 20 months -- the first of many important qualifiers.

2/3 pic.twitter.com/zbJJB2RMRd
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) September 18, 2021

From the CDC Wonder database, for multiple cause of death, here are the number of deaths ages 0-17 with flu for ICD-10 codes J09-J11 for types of influenza by year 2010-19.

So Fauci was telling the truth, right? Hold up. No, not even close.

3/4 pic.twitter.com/ihSNAdwnf1
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) September 18, 2021

COVID-19 deaths are capturing almost every COVID-induced illness in the past year because every kid is being tested that goes into a hospital, and it's overcounting because any kid that dies with a positive test is a multiple cause COVID death.

4/5
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) September 18, 2021

Flu, on the other hand, isn't counted that way. If we tested every kid in the hospital during flu season and counted every kid dying with the flu as dying from the flu, numbers would be insane.

CDC knows this. They know the real count is much higher.

5/6
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) September 18, 2021

To illustrate, let's use CDC estimated flu burden.

In the 2012-13 flu season, for instance, the CDC estimates that the flu caused 1,161 deaths *from* the flu. Remember there are 439 COVID-19 deaths in 20 months.

6/7https://t.co/qM7hlitbfp pic.twitter.com/uJ7ePhAdrn
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) September 18, 2021

A lesser but still deadlier 2017-18 flu season is estimated to have caused 643 deaths for ages 0-17.

While official flu deaths are clearly significant undercounts, COVID-19 deaths are known overcounts.

7/8 pic.twitter.com/De0IgRVlLx
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) September 18, 2021

H1N1 flu virus, on the other hand, accounted for an estimated 1,153 deaths of ages 0-17 from Sep. 2009 through April 2010.

9/10https://t.co/C9p8z46tu2 pic.twitter.com/waBE6PYepW
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) September 18, 2021

We see this in hospitalizations. The EIP surveillance network, which covers about 14 states and roughly 10% of the U.S. population designed to match demographics, estimates 33.5 cumulative hospitalizations for the flu in 2017-18 for ages 0-17.

10/11https://t.co/WqGTiDlChA pic.twitter.com/tvhFF45YRj
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) September 18, 2021

But the same surveillance network shows 55.5 hospitalizations 0-17 per 100,000. Remember, this is in ~20 months. This is also "COVID-associated hospitalizations" because the CDC acknowledges it includes all confirmed positive tests...

11/12https://t.co/bdX49qrr3s pic.twitter.com/aHUuMai65D
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) September 18, 2021

So the estimate of hospitalizations from flu in 2017 has a higher rate (58.6 per 100,000) than *with* COVID-19 in 20 months (55.5).

But wait, there's more!

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— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) September 18, 2021

This is backed up by a larger, more comprehensive study that just came out reported by The Atlantic that found in 50,000 hospitalized patients in VA hospitals, almost 48 percent have been asymptomatic or mild/moderate symptoms in 2021.

14/15https://t.co/JLrO2TJsmx
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) September 18, 2021

Bottom line: there is no evidence that COVID-19 is more dangerous to children than the flu. The data shows the opposite. Fauci did indeed tell a big fib.

End.
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) September 18, 2021

Despite counting every pediatric death as one *with* COVID-19, not necessarily *from*, the weekly mortality rate for COVID per million for ages 0-17 is 46% lower than the average 10 previous estimated flu season disease burdens *from* flu and 79% lower than H1N1. pic.twitter.com/nZonTyo6qJ
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) September 18, 2021

I know you have done this already but mute this guy when he’s on television. What he says is a lie. It’s not true. He’s been a science fiction peddler for months and he really has no authority to issue any edicts whatsoever. He has become the most insufferable man on the planet who at this point—should probably be launched into the sun.

Shut up, Tony. You’re a lying sack—and always will be. Also, it’s you people who have derailed your goals on vaccination by acting as if they don’t work so a big round of applause for all you idiots.