Fauci finally distinguishes between hospitalizations 'with' and 'because of' COVID

Dr. Anthony Fauci is starting to sound like his longtime critics, continuing a trend among Biden administration officials tasked with COVID-19 response.

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases claimed that children's hospitalizations related to COVID, which have been rising, were being overcounted because they included incidental infections.

"If a child goes into the hospital, they automatically get tested for COVID and they get counted as a COVID-hospitalized individual, when, in fact, they may go in for a broken leg or appendicitis or something like that," he told MSNBC. "So it's over counting the number of children who are, quote, hospitalized with COVID as opposed to because of COVID."

Critics of federal and state COVID counting mechanisms have made the same argument since early in the pandemic, distinguishing between hospitalizations "with" and "because of" COVID.

"Keen observers would note that many people skeptical of the official COVID-19 count have argued that exact scenario was happening for quite some time," Daily Wire writer Tim Meads wrote.

"Now Fauci says this?" Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted Thursday night, sharing the interview. "Is this because pandemic politics have changed for the Biden admin?"

Back in May, Stanford School of Medicine researchers highlighted the likely overcounting in children's hospitalizations due to automatic COVID testing upon admission.

They analyzed nine months of data from a children's hospital, finding among the 117 infections that a plurality (39%) was asymptomatic, followed by mild to moderate (28%). The researchers concluded by reviewing each child's medical charts that 45% of the patients "were admitted for reasons unrelated to the virus."

"If we rely on hospitals' positive SARS-CoV-2 test results, we are inflating by about two-fold the actual risk of hospitalization from the disease in kids,"  said Alan Schroeder, a co-author of the paper and clinical professor of pediatric critical care.

The Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention and NIAID did not immediately respond to Just the News for questions on whether Fauci had previously distinguished between hospitalizations "with" and "because of" COVID or otherwise questioned official COVID hospitalization statistics.