Twitter Yanks Another Trump Retweet With Dubious COVID Statistics

Twitter has become increasingly unafraid to police President Donald Trump’s personal Twitter account for spreading dubious information and conspiracy theories. The hammer came down once again on Sunday when the platform blocked a retweet from the President that shared false COVID-19 stats.

The tweet in question was made by a user called “Mel Q,” noted for their support of the ludicrous pro-Trump conspiracy theory, QAnon. In the tweet, copied from a Facebook post, the user shared false statistics from the CDC claiming that the center had “quietly” admitted that “only 6%” of people who died from COVID-19 actually died from the virus, while “the other 94% had 2-3 other serious illnesses.”

This tweet manipulated what the CDC actually said. The center updated its page recently with the information stating that COVID-19 was the sole cause of death listed on the death certificate for 6% of patients, in no way indicating that the other 94% actually died from something else. As it was a regular public update, saying that it was done “quietly” would also be a stretch.

Preexisting conditions are known to exacerbate the effects of coronavirus, but the virus is still a major reason for death in most cases. Conditions like obesity and diabetes are among the most common associated with more severe cases of coronavirus, but many people are still able to live normal lives with them.

Twitter also took down another retweet from Trump related to this misinterpretation. This other tweet included an article from right-wing outlet, Gateway Pundit, which reported on the Mel Q tweet that Trump had previously shared.

“This Tweet is no longer available because it violated the Twitter Rules,” the tweets now read.