In his 2014 book “The Loudest Voice in the Room,” journalist Gabriel Sherman reported that top Fox News executives meet every morning to strategize about how the network can angle its daily coverage to advance the Republican Party’s political agenda.

After first downplaying the threat of the coronavirus, then accusing Democrats of overhyping it to hurt President Trump, then claiming the “cure” of shutting down the economy could be worse than the disease, Fox News’ hosts now seem to be following a new set of marching orders when discussing the deadly pathogen: questioning whether all that many people are really dying from it.

Like each of its predecessors, Fox’s latest pandemic talking point — that the coronavirus death toll could be exaggerated because it includes individuals who had other health issues in addition to COVID-19 — doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

“We’ve made it very clear, every time I’ve been up here, about the comorbidities,” Dr. Deborah Birx, the U.S. coronavirus response coordinator, said Wednesday during the White House coronavirus task force press briefing. “This has been known from the beginning. So those individuals will have an underlying condition, but that underlying condition did not cause their acute death when it’s related to a COVID infection.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, also made a point to weigh in, cautioning against such “conspiracy theories.”

“They are nothing but distractions,” Fauci said. “Let somebody write a book about it later on. But not now.”

Yet that didn’t stop former Fox News host Brit Hume from appearing on Tucker Carlson’s show Tuesday to speculate that the overall U.S. death toll — by Thursday, more than 14,800 and rising — may be inflated.

“There are lots of people who are asymptomatic who may have other terrible diseases,” Hume said. “And if everybody is being automatically classified, if they’re found to have COVID-19, as a COVID-19 death, we’re going to get a very large number of deaths that way, and we’re probably not going to have an accurate count of what the real death total is.”

Carlson agreed, adding that “there may be reasons people seek an inaccurate death count” and that “when journalists work with numbers, there sometimes is an agenda.”

As if on cue, Fox anchor Harris Faulkner joined the chorus Wednesday — even though she is a member of the network’s news division, not an opinion host like Carlson or an analyst like Hume.

“The federal government now is classifying all COVID-19 patient deaths as such, regardless of whether any other underlying health issues were a factor,” Faulkner said before playing a clip of Birx confirming that “if someone dies with COVID-19, we are counting that as a COVID-19 death.”

100 PHOTOS Coronavirus in the United States See Gallery Coronavirus in the United States NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 25: A person wears a protective face mask outside a store in Brooklyn as New York City moves into Phase 2 of re-opening following restrictions imposed to curb the coronavirus pandemic on June 25, 2020. Phase 2 permits the reopening of offices, in-store retail, outdoor dining, barbers and beauty parlors and numerous other businesses. Phase 2 is the second of four-phased stages designated by the state. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images) LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JUNE 25: Aerialists and acrobats David Gray (L) and Alyssa Gray participate in a fashion show in front of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign on the Las Vegas Strip to kick off the pro-mask wearing campaign "Mask Up for Nevada" put on by Experience Strategy Associates amid the spread of the coronavirus on June 25, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. On Wednesday, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signed a directive requiring people to wear face coverings in public places throughout the state beginning on June 26 in response to a four-week upward trend of new daily COVID-19 cases. The governor also cited an increase in confirmed and suspected COVID-19 hospitalizations since the state entered Phase Two of the state's reopening plan on May 29 as a reason for the mandate. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) A person in their car receives a kit at a Covid-19 testing center at Dodger Stadium, June 25, 2020, in Los Angeles, California. - The number of new COVID-19 cases in the United States is hitting levels not seen since the early part of the pandemic in April. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images) Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill, listens as US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton, speaks during a House Committee on Financial Services hearing entitled "Capital Markets and Emergency Lending in the COVID-19 Era" in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on June 25, 2020. (Photo by Rod Lamkey / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ROD LAMKEY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) People wearing facemasks stand outside a Burberry store as shoppers return to the streets of iconic Rodeo Drive as the luxury goods stores reopen after three months of closure due to the Covid-19 virus in Beverly Hills, California on June 25, 2020. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP) (Photo by MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images) Olga Karamalak puts the finishing touches on a Mother's Day flower arraignment at Relles Florist in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, May 5, 2020. Florists are among the retail businesses that Gov. Gavin Newsom said might be eligible to open before the end of this week under upcoming state guidelines on the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) MTA officials work on trains for the disinfecting operations at the Coney Island Stillwell Avenue Terminal Wednesday, May 6, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) Employees wait to hear President Donald Trump speak after a tour of a Honeywell International plant that manufactures personal protective equipment, Tuesday, May 5, 2020, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) A shopper in a face mask looks over cuts of beef piled up in a cold room for purchase at a Costco warehouse store Tuesday, May 5, 2020, in west Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) Bhagirathi Savage pays the cymbals at 7 o'clock, Tuesday evening, May 5, 2020 in the Queens borough of New York. She is part of a community of devotees of the late Indian guru Sri Chinmoy that gathers each evening to salute those on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) A fisherman casts into the surf Tuesday, May 5, 2020, in Huntington Beach, Calif. California Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration gave approval Tuesday to plans by Huntington Beach and two smaller cities to reopen beaches that fell under his order shutting down the entire Orange County coast after a heat wave drew large crowds to the shore. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) Emory Hospital RN Aisha Bennett takes a nasal swab at a pilot large scale drive-through COVID-19 testing site in the Georgia International Horse Park on Thursday, April 16, 2020, in Conyers, Ga. Testing is by appointment only and open to anyone in the general public who believes they are ill with COVID-19. According to Chad Wasdin, communications director for the Gwinnett Rockdale Newton Health Departments, due to increased testing capacity 400 appointments are scheduled for anyone who thinks they may be ill with the virus. While the Health Department requires a scheduled appointment to test individuals, referral from a doctor is not necessary. There is no charge for the testing, and those tested do not need to provide health insurance information. "We look forward to piloting this large-scale test site," said Dr. Audrey Arona, district health director and CEO of Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale County Health Departments. "This is a fantastic collaboration between Rockdale and Newton county governments, their EMAs, and the Health Department. Testing will provide individuals in the community an opportunity to learn if their illness is consistent with the COVID-19 virus, and it will help us improve our plans for providing large-scale testing. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - 2020/04/21: People wearing face masks as a preventive measure, line up at one of NYC new testing tents outside Gotham Health in East New York amid the coronavirus outbreak. The Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio announced new testing facilities in low income communities where the coronavirus has hit the hardest. (Photo by Braulio Jatar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) A woman looks to get information about job application in front of IDES (Illinois Department of Employment Security) WorkNet center in Arlington Heights, Ill., Thursday, April 9, 2020. Another 6.6 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week, according to the US Department of Labor, as American workers continue to suffer from devastating job losses, furloughs and reduced hours during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - 2020/04/21: Oculus mall and transportation hub stays virtually empty because of COVID-19 pandemic at World Trade Center. (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, UNITED STATES - APRIL 21, 2020: Health workers speak to a man with a bicycle after testing him for COVID-19 at a mobile testing site at the Apostolic Church of Christ in a historic black neighborhood in Seminole County. State and county health officials are offering free tests at six historic black neighbourhoods to help residents who are unable to drive to a health clinic or may be unable to afford health insurance.- PHOTOGRAPH BY Paul Hennessy / Echoes Wire/ Barcroft Studios / Future Publishing (Photo credit should read Paul Hennessy / Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media via Getty Images) Volunteers at the Islamic Society of Central Florida distribute food from the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida to needy families during a drive-thru event on April 9, 2020 in Orlando, Florida. The food bank has seen record demand for assistance in the Orlando area due to job losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images) USS Intrepid is seen with blue lights on April 9, 2020 in New York City, USA., Landmarks across the United States are Illuminated In Blue To Honor Essential Workers with the hashtag "Light it Blue" (Photo by John Nacion/NurPhoto via Getty Images) NEW ORLEANS, LA - APRIL 09: Some residents are attempting to bring some Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by dressing as the Easter Bunny and walking the Lakeview neighborhood in preparation for Easter on April 09, 2020, in New Orleans, LA. (Photo by Stephen Lew/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 09: A Building in Times Square, displaying a thank you message to those fighting for our lives, is reflected in a puddle amid the coronavirus pandemic on April 9, 2020 in New York City. COVID-19 has spread to most countries around the world, claiming 96,000 lives with infections at 1.6 million people. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC APRIL 09: Geoff Gilbert (left), Madhvi Venkatraman(CQ)(center), and Megan Macaraeg, help undocumented immigrants who are in need of help during the pandemic covid19 in Columbia Heights in Washington, DC on April 09, 2020. (Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images) NEW YORK, USA - APRIL 7: Empire State Building lights up like an ambulance to honor emergency healthcare workers responding to the new type of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in New York City, United States on April 7, 2020. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 7: Three medical workers wearing gloves and face masks stand at the entrance to the Maimonides Medical Center in the on April 7, 2020 in the Borough Park neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York City. New York City has more than 74,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including more than 3,500 deaths, according to published reports. (Photo by Pablo Monsalve/VIEWpress via Getty Images)"n NEW YORK, New York - APRIL 07: A view of the "Police Line- Do Not Cross" tape marking the parameter of a temporary field hospital to treat covid-19 patients set up in Central Park by "Samaritans purse" a charitable organization working with Mount Sinai. on April 07, 2020 in New York City, United States. COVID-19 has spread to most countries around the world, claiming over 80,000 lives with over 1.4 million infections. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images) NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - APRIL 7, 2020: Hospital workers wheel out bodies to be stored in a portable morgue outside Brooklyn Hospital. New York had its highest 24 hour death toll with 731 people dying of the corona virus, however hospitalization seems to be going down.- PHOTOGRAPH BY Braulio Jatar / Echoes WIre/ Barcroft Studios / Future Publishing (Photo credit should read Braulio Jatar / Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media via Getty Images) WEST COVINA, CA - APRIL 07: Karina Pantoja, left, community home dental coordinator along with Dentist Dr. Rosette El Rehab screens people during Coronavirus testing by the city of West Covina and AltaMed in West Covina on Tuesday, April 07, 2020. (Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images) BOSTON, MA - APRIL 8: Boston Mayor Marty Walsh speaks at a press briefing on the city's efforts battling the coronavirus pandemic outside City Hall in Boston on Apr. 7, 2020. He wore a New England Patriots protective face mask. (Photo by Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 07: A "Station Closed" sign is hung at the gate of Federal Triangle Metro Station April 7, 2020 in Washington, DC. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced that it is cutting late night service and closing all Metro stations at 9pm daily until further notice due to lower ridership in the COVID-19 outbreak. Nineteen Metro stations had already been closed prior to the service cut. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) Residents of the Sunrise at FlatIrons assisted living facility participated in a "social distancing" workout from their balconies or in the common area on Tuesday, April 07, 2020, in Broomfield, Colo. Senior living facilities across the state are currently quarantining residents as a precaution to the current coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Jeremy Papasso/MediaNews Group/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images) NEW JERSEY, USA - APRIL 7: A general view of empty city from Eagle Rock Reservation Park during the new type of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in New Jersey, United States on April 7, 2020. (Photo by Islam Dogru/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) NEW YORK, New York - APRIL 07: A Skater on roller blades wears a surgical mask on the West Side Highway Bike Path in front of the USNS Comfort which is docked on pier 90, in Manhattan on April 07, 2020 in New York City, United States. COVID-19 has spread to most countries around the world, claiming over 80,000 lives with over 1.4 million infections. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images) Reading, PA - March 26: A Stay Strong sign has been erected in the cloverleaf at the Penn Street exit of Route 422, in Reading, PA Thursday, March 26, 2020, to offer encouragement in the coronavirus epidemic.(Photo by Bill Uhrich/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images) UNITED STATES - MARCH 27: Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., walks down the House steps as the House votes on the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act in Washington on Friday, March 27, 2020. (Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) NEW YORK, USA - MARCH 25: A patient with a face mask is seen at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, United States on March 25, 2020. The coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. topped 800 on Wednesday, while the number of cases reached over 55,200, according to latest figures by Johns Hopkins University. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 27: A New York Police officer wears a face mask as he directs traffic on a local street on March 27, 2020 in New York City. At least 350 members of the New York City Police Department including deputy commissioner John Miller were confirmed to have the virus. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 27: A New York Police officer wears a face mask as he directs traffic on a local street on March 27, 2020 in New York City. At least 350 members of the New York City Police Department including deputy commissioner John Miller were confirmed to have the virus. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 27: U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) talks with reporters as she arrives at the U.S. Capitol on March 27, 2020 in Washington, DC. The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote today on the stimulus bill intended to combat the economic effects caused by the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 27: People cross Park Av. after it was announced that some streets will be shut as lockdown continues in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreakon March 27, 2020 in New York City. Mayor Bill de Blasio chose four streets across four boroughs to test whether shutting down streets to vehicular traffic would increase social distancing among pedestrians during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images) FLORIDA, USA - MARCH 20: Paramedics dressed in hazmat suits assist the evacuation of cruiseships crew members with respiratory symptoms associated with coronavirus (COVID-19) at the Coast Guardâs Miami Beach station, in Miami, Florida, United States on March 26, 2020. (Photo by MARCO BELLO/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) FLORIDA, USA - MARCH 20: An ambulance is seen during the evacuation of cruiseships crew members with respiratory symptoms associated with coronavirus (COVID-19) at the Coast Guardâs Miami Beach station, in Miami, Florida, United States on March 26, 2020. (Photo by MARCO BELLO/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Reading, PA - March 26: (L-R) Siblings Azuleirys Francisco, 10, Alexander Francisco, 6, and Jovani Francisco, 8, sanitize their hands as a precaution against coronavirus while picking up meals from the parking lot at 4th and Windsor in Reading, PA Thursday afternoon Thursday March 26, 2020. The site is run by Olivets and the Reading School District.(Photo by Lauren A. Little/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images) Amity twp., PA - March 26: The sign for Hope Church in Amity Township that reads "Social Distancing, Join us online..." Thursday afternoon March 26, 2020.(Photo by Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images) A woman poses for a photo with her dog in a mostly empty Times Square, New York, US, on March 25, 2020. (Photo by John Lamparski/NurPhoto via Getty Images) NEW YORK, USA - MARCH 25: A view of empty road in Brooklyn, New York, United States on March 25, 2020. The coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. topped 800 on Wednesday, while the number of cases reached over 55,200, according to latest figures by Johns Hopkins University. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) A sign is displayed at a coffee shop on March 25, 2020 in New York City. - The number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in the United States reached 60,115 on Wednesday while 827 people had died, a tracker run by Johns Hopkins University showed. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 25: Basketball courts are seen empty due to coronavirus spread on March 25, 2020 in New York City, New York. Across the country schools, businesses and places of work have either been shut down or are restricting hours of operation as health officials try to slow the spread of COVID-19. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images) SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA - MARCH 18: Shoppers at Walgreens in San Franciscoâs Castro District make last minute purchases minutes before the shelter in place directive was to take effect on March 18, 2020. (Photo by Neal Waters/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) SAN JOSE, CA, USA - MARCH 18: A Safeway store in San Jose posts new shorter store hours to provide a safer work environment ahead of Tuesdayâs directive to shelter in place for residents of the six counties that make up the Bay Area, on March 18, 2020. (Photo by Neal Waters/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA - MARCH 18: Mounted officers patrol the area outside Pier 39 in San Francisco on day one of the shelter in place order on March 18, 2020. (Photo by Neal Waters/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) MANASSAS, USA - MARCH 17: Weapons on display at a gun shop in Manassas, Virginia, United States as gun and ammunition sales in the U.S. have skyrocketed as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic spread across the country. (Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) A security officer stands guard at a tent set up outside the emergency room at an AdventHealth hospital on March 17, 2020 in Orlando, Florida. The tent is part of AdventHealth's surge planning in case extra space is needed to care for potential coronavirus cases in the community. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images) A tent is seen set up outside the emergency room at an AdventHealth hospital on March 17, 2020 in Orlando, Florida. The tent is part of AdventHealth's surge planning in case extra space is needed to care for potential coronavirus cases in the community. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images) External and outside of emergency room views of the pandemic, novel Coronavirus, or COVID-19 are seen at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital on March 17, 2020 in Park Ridge, Illinois, United States. The collection includes additional tents, a warning construction sign, an empty road, a congested road, a law enforcement vehicle, and a drive through testing area. (Photo by Patrick Gorski/NurPhoto via Getty Images) NEWTON, MA - MARCH 17: Medical professionals work in coronavirus testing tents at Newton Wellesley Hospital in Newton, MA on March 17, 2020. (Photo by Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) BOSTON, MA - MARCH 17: An emergency tent is set up at the Carney Hospital in Boston's Dorchester for coronavirus pandemic use on March 17, 2020. (Photo by David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) LEONARDTOWN, MARYLAND - MARCH 17: Nurses screen patients for COVID-19 virus testing at a drive-up location outside Medstar St. Mary's Hospital on March 17, 2020 in Leonardtown, Maryland. The facility is one of the first in the Washington, DC area to offer coronavirus testing as more than 5,200 cases have been confirmed in the United States, and more than 90 deaths have been attributed to the virus. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) A sign on a table provides instructions for social distancing, while a group of people are seen in the background, selective focus, sitting around a small table, at a hospital in San Francisco during an outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus, California, March 16, 2020. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) NEWTON, MA - MARCH, 16: Nurse practitioner Amy Israelian puts on protective gear in a tent in the parking lot of the Newton-Wellesley Hospital before testing a possible coronavirus patient in Newton, MA on March 16, 2020. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/For The Washington Post via Getty Images) Two staff members wheel Amwell telemedicine carts into the entrance of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Benioff Children's Hospital in Mission Bay, San Francisco, California during an outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus, March 16, 2020. As a result of the outbreak, patients are increasingly being asked to conduct telemedicine appointments to avoid infecting healthcare workers. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) People line up to enter a triage tent outside of the emergency room at Memorial West Hospital in Pembroke Pines, Fla., on Monday, March 16, 2020. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) WESTMINSTER, MARYLAND - MARCH 16: Dawn Canova, clinical manager for outpatient wound care at Carroll Hospital, takes off her protective gloves after taking a sample to test a person for the coronavirus at a drive-thru station in the hospital's parking garage March 16, 2020 in Westminster, Maryland. Not open to the general public for testing, the station was set up to take samples from people who had spoken with their doctors and received explicit direction to get a test for the novel coronavirus called COVID-19. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) WESTMINSTER, MARYLAND - MARCH 16: Carroll Hospital Critical Care Unit Clinical Manager Stephanie Bakert talks to a person through his car window using a mobile phone before testing him for the coronavirus at a drive-thru station in the hospital's parking garage March 16, 2020 in Westminster, Maryland. Not open to the general public for testing, the station was set up to take samples from people who had spoken with their doctors and received explicit direction to get a test for the novel coronavirus called COVID-19. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 15: An exterior view of Lenox Hill Hospital as the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States on March 15, 2020 in New York City. The World Health Organization declared coronavirus (COVID-19) a global pandemic on March 11th. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 15: Passengers disembark from the Norwegian Bliss cruise ship on March 15, 2020 in New York City. Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday that any cruise ship passenger disembarking in New York City with a temperature over 100.4 will be given the choice of self-isolating at home or be taken to a hospital to protect against the spread of COVID-19. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images) DAYTON, WA - MARCH 14: Dr. Lewis Neace, head of the ER at Dayton General Hospital poses for a photograph. Dayton, a small town in rural southeast Washington has an aging population, had its first positive test for Coronavirus and is waiting on results of more tests. (Photo by Nick Otto for the Washington Post) NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 14: An exterior view of Harlem Hospital Center, aka NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, as the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States on March 14, 2020 in New York City. The World Health Organization declared coronavirus (COVID-19) a global pandemic on March 11th. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images) JACKSONVILLE, FL - MARCH 14: A general view of the Ascension St. Vincent's Riverside Hospital on March 14, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Coronavirus (COVID-19) a pandemic. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images) Un puñado de personas transitan la terminal de Grand Central en Nueva York el 23 de marzo del 2020. Normalmente hay multitudes en la estación, pero muy poca gente está viajando como consecuencia del coronavirus. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) A sign displaying messages on how to reduce the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, is displayed at the mouth of the Manhattan Bridge, Monday, March 23, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) NEW PALTZ, NY - MARCH 22: A highway information display says, "STOP THE SPREAD SAVE LIVES" on a mostly empty Interstate 87 on Sunday afternoon. The highway was mostly empty on the same day that New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo pleads with New York residents to take the stay-at-home orders seriously regarding the Coronavirus pandemic. Photographed in New Paltz, New York on March 22, 2020, USA. (Photo by Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images) People are seen lining up for testing Covid-19 in Elmhurst Queens to test for Coronavirus, on March 21, 2020. (Photo by John Nacion/NurPhoto via Getty Images) People are seen lining up for testing Covid-19 in Elmhurst Queens to test for Coronavirus, on March 21, 2020. (Photo by John Nacion/NurPhoto via Getty Images) STONY BROOK, NEW YORK - MARCH 21: A sign direct people to a COVID-19 test facility at Stony Brook University on March 21, 2020 in Stony Brook, New York. The World Health Organization declared coronavirus (COVID-19) a global pandemic on March 11th. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) US President Donald Trump and other members of the task force listen as National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, at the White House on March 21, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) Women wear face masks a a scarf to protect their mouths and nose as they walk along 34th St., Friday, March 20, 2020, in New York. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is ordering all workers in non-essential businesses to stay home and banning gatherings statewide. "Only essential businesses can have workers commuting to the job or on the job," Cuomo said of an executive order he will sign Friday. Nonessential gatherings of individuals of any size or for any reason are canceled or postponed. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) A subway customer wears protective gloves on an empty car as it stops at a sparsely populated 57th Street station due to COVID-19 concerns, Friday, March 20, 2020, in New York. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is ordering all workers in non-essential businesses to stay home and banning gatherings statewide. "Only essential businesses can have workers commuting to the job or on the job," Cuomo said of an executive order on Friday. Nonessential gatherings of individuals of any size or for any reason are canceled or postponed. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) A postal worker wears a protective mask and gloves while operating a route in the Queens borough of New York, Friday, March 20, 2020. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is ordering all workers in non-essential businesses to stay home and banning gatherings statewide. "Only essential businesses can have workers commuting to the job or on the job," Cuomo said of an executive order he will sign Friday. Nonessential gatherings of individuals of any size or for any reason are canceled or postponed. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) A Red Robin reastaurant in Tigard, Ore., has closed some tables in order to maintain 'social distancing' between diners per CDC guidelines Sunday, March 15, 2020. They said they were running the place at 50 percent capacity so they could leave tables empty between customers. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus) A commuter pauses to read a video display on the Gallery Place Metro subway train platform in Washington, Friday, March 13, 2020, with a message from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the proper way to wash your hands to combat the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) US Vice President Mike Pence, flanked by CDC Director Robert R. Redfield (L) and FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor, shows documents to reporters during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, at the White House on March 22, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Eric BARADAT / AFP) (Photo by ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images) An electronic billboard sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides tips for the public on ways to prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) on March 20, 2020 along Interstate 4 in Deland, Florida. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Street performer Eddie Webb looks around the nearly deserted French Quarter looking to make money in New Orleans, Sunday, March 22, 2020. With much of the city already hunkered down due to the coronavirus pandemic, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards issues a shelter-in-place order to take effect starting Monday at 5:00 PM. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) A sign to draw customers is seen outside the nearly empty Superior Seafood and Oyster Bar in New Orleans, Thursday, March 19, 2020. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell have ordered all restaurants and bars to close except for takeout, and asked residents to remain home and maintain social distancing from others when outside, due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Kamari Fletcher waits for her to-go order inside the nearly empty Superior Seafood and Oyster Bar in New Orleans, Thursday, March 19, 2020. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell have ordered all restaurants and bars to close except for takeout, and asked residents to remain home and maintain social distancing from others when outside, due to the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) A shuttered business is seen in the French Quarter in New Orleans on March 26, 2020, during the coronavirus outbreak. - New Orleans, the Louisiana city known as the "Big Easy" famed for its jazz and nightlife, has become an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic gripping the United States. The southern US state now has 2,305 confirmed cases and 83 deaths. New Orleans alone accounts for 997 of the cases and 46 of the deaths. (Photo by Emily Kask / 30203169A / AFP) (Photo by EMILY KASK/30203169A/AFP via Getty Images) Words from Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" are painted onto plywood covering the window of a closed business during the coronavirus outbreak in New Orleans on March 26, 2020. - New Orleans, the Louisiana city known as the "Big Easy" famed for its jazz and nightlife, has become an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic gripping the United States. The southern US state now has 2,305 confirmed cases and 83 deaths. New Orleans alone accounts for 997 of the cases and 46 of the deaths. (Photo by Emily Kask / 30203169A / AFP) (Photo by EMILY KASK/30203169A/AFP via Getty Images) A closure note is posted on the family-owned Bar Redux in the Bywater in New Orleans on March 26, 2020. - New Orleans, the Louisiana city known as the "Big Easy" famed for its jazz and nightlife, has become an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic gripping the United States. The southern US state now has 2,305 confirmed cases and 83 deaths. New Orleans alone accounts for 997 of the cases and 46 of the deaths. (Photo by Emily Kask / 30203169A / AFP) (Photo by EMILY KASK/30203169A/AFP via Getty Images) A shuttered business is pictured on Decatur Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 26, 2020. - New Orleans, the Louisiana city known as the "Big Easy" famed for its jazz and nightlife, has become an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic gripping the United States. The southern US state now has 2,305 confirmed cases and 83 deaths. New Orleans alone accounts for 997 of the cases and 46 of the deaths. (Photo by Emily Kask / 30203169A / AFP) (Photo by EMILY KASK/30203169A/AFP via Getty Images) A shuttered restaurant is pictured in the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 26, 2020. - New Orleans, the Louisiana city known as the "Big Easy" famed for its jazz and nightlife, has become an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic gripping the United States. The southern US state now has 2,305 confirmed cases and 83 deaths. New Orleans alone accounts for 997 of the cases and 46 of the deaths. (Photo by Emily Kask / 30203169A / AFP) (Photo by EMILY KASK/30203169A/AFP via Getty Images) National Guard members walk down Rampart Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 26, 2020. - New Orleans, the Louisiana city known as the "Big Easy" famed for its jazz and nightlife, has become an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic gripping the United States. The southern US state now has 2,305 confirmed cases and 83 deaths. New Orleans alone accounts for 997 of the cases and 46 of the deaths. (Photo by Emily Kask / 30203169A / AFP) (Photo by EMILY KASK/30203169A/AFP via Getty Images) Stony Brook, N.Y.: State workers and members of the National Guard check in people arriving for the drive-thru coronavirus testing at Stony brook University in New York on March 25, 2020. (Photo by John Paraskevas/Newsday RM via Getty Images) Gov. Brad Little issues a statewide stay-at-home order to further prevent spread of coronavirus COVID-19 at a press conference Wednesday, March 25, 2020 held at Gowen Field, headquarters of the Idaho Army National Guard in Boise, Idaho. (Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) A Healthcare worker help to check in with the assistant from the Florida Army National Guard as vehicles line up at the COVID-19 drive-thru testing center at Marlins Park as the coronavirus pandemic continues on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 in Miami. (David Santiago/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) A Healthcare worker help to check in with the assistant from the Florida Army National Guard as vehicles line up at the COVID-19 drive-thru testing center at Marlins Park as the coronavirus pandemic continues on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 in Miami. (David Santiago/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 26: (L-R) U.S. President Donald Trump and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci arrive for a briefing on the coronavirus pandemic in the press briefing room of the White House on March 26, 2020 in Washington, DC. The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Friday on the $2 trillion stimulus package to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 26: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci listens as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a briefing on the coronavirus pandemic, in the press briefing room of the White House on March 26, 2020 in Washington, DC. After the U.S. House of Representatives votes on Friday, President Trump is expected to sign the $2 trillion stimulus package to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 25: Flanked by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci (L) and White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx, Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a briefing on the coronavirus pandemic, in the press briefing room of the White House on March 25, 2020 in Washington, DC. The United States Senate continues to work on a $2 trillion aide package to combat the health and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) BLOOMINGTON, UNITED STATES - MARCH 26, 2020: A volunteer puts on gloves before participating in the Monroe County Food Train to give meals, and groceries to youth 18 and under, during the COVID-19/Coronavirus emergency in Bloomington. Hundreds of workers have been laid off in the community, and the governor has issued a stay-at-home order.- PHOTOGRAPH BY Jeremy Hogan / Echoes Wire/ Barcroft Studios / Future Publishing (Photo credit should read Jeremy Hogan / Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media via Getty Images) BOSTON, MA - MARCH 26: Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders and Gov. Charlie Baker hold a press conference in the Gardner Auditorium at The Massachusetts State House in Boston on March 26, 2020. Baker and Sudders addressed attempting to secure more pieces of personal protection equipment and mobile schooling concerns. (Photo by Blake Nissen/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) The Magic Bag theater is pictured closed, due to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's measures to stop the spread of COVID 19 in Ferndale, Michigan on March 26, 2020. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP) (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images) Up Next See Gallery Discover More Like This HIDE CAPTION SHOW CAPTION of SEE ALL BACK TO SLIDE

“How many of those people had other health risks at play, though, and maybe it wasn’t in fact COVID-19 that caused their death?” Faulkner asked.

Despite the furrowed brows on Fox, however, Faulkner’s question isn’t all that hard to answer. According to actual experts, if there’s any problem with the COVID-19 death count, it’s not that it’s too high.

It’s that it’s too low.

The first thing to note is that despite all the innuendo on Fox, there is nothing unusual about the way the media or the government is counting coronavirus deaths. In any crisis — whether it’s a pandemic or a hurricane — people with preexisting conditions will die. The standard for attributing such deaths to the current crisis is determining whether those people would have died when they did even if the current crisis had never happened.

When it comes to the coronavirus, the data is clear: COVID-19 is much more likely to kill you if your system has already been compromised by some other ailment, such as asthma, HIV, diabetes mellitus, chronic lung disease or cardiovascular disease. But that doesn’t mean patients with those health problems would have died this week (or last week, or next month) no matter what. The vast majority of them probably wouldn’t have. COVID-19 was the catalyst — the reason they died now and not later.

Given the potentially large number of asymptomatic cases circulating in the population, it’s possible, as Hume suggested, that some number of people who never got sick from the coronavirus but tested positive and then died from a different underlying cause are being mistakenly counted as COVID-19 deaths. But that number is likely to be vanishingly small, for one simple reason: People who don’t feel sick aren’t getting tested.

Much larger is the number of people who aren’t getting tested even though they have experienced symptoms. And that’s why, contra Fox News, experts say the coronavirus death toll is almost certainly an undercount. As Birx noted, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counts only deaths in which the presence of the coronavirus is confirmed by a test. But as the New York Times reported Sunday, “inconsistent protocols, limited resources and a patchwork of decision making from one state or county to the next” have made it impossible to test every likely coronavirus death. Victims with flulike symptoms in February and early March weren’t tested. Victims in rural areas, where coroners still say they don’t have the tools they need to detect the disease, still aren’t being tested. Victims who die at home or in overburdened nursing homes aren’t being tested.

Meanwhile, “postmortem testing by medical examiners varies widely across the country, and some officials say testing the dead is a misuse of scarce resources that could be used on the living,” the Washington Post reported over the weekend. “In addition, some people who have the virus test negative, experts say.”

“You can’t rely on just the laboratory-confirmed cases,” Marc-Alain Widdowson, an epidemiologist who left the CDC last year and now serves as director of the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp in Belgium, told the Post. “You’re never going to apply the test on everybody who is ill and everybody who dies. So without doubt — it’s a truism — the number of deaths are underestimated globally.”

When adjudicating debates over the data, it’s worth checking both sides’ sources. In the case of the Times, the Post and other mainstream news outlets, these sources include “hospital officials, doctors, public health experts and medical examiners.” Fox News’s sources, on the other hand, appear to be right-wing media figures such as Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin. “People die on this planet every day,” Limbaugh said during an April 2 segment on the “massive speculation” that virus patients may actually be “dying because of other things”; Levin has suggested that “heart failure, heart disease, a heart attack” may account for an “inflated” and “extraordinarily misleading” number of reported COVID-19 fatalities.

“I have suspected this for weeks,” Levin crowed Tuesday on Twitter.

Yet when Faulkner asked her panel Wednesday whether comorbidities were inflating the overall COVID-19 death count, Fox News medical contributor and physician Dr. Janette Nesheiwat admitted that “I don’t think it’s going to be a huge discrepancy in the data in the end.”

A day earlier, even Trump himself described the death count as “very, very accurate.”

“When you say death counts, I think they’re pretty accurate on the death counts," Trump said. “The death counts, I think, they are very, very accurate.”

Cover thumbnail photo: Alex Brandon/AP

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Click here for the latest coronavirus news and updates. According to experts, people over 60 and those who are immunocompromised continue to be the most at risk. If you have questions, please refer to the CDC’s and WHO’s resource guides.

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