County, health officials respond to misinformation about COVID-19

JACKSON, Tenn. — While health officials are fighting coronavirus, they’re also fighting misinformation.

“We all could spend 24 hours a day battling misinformation,” Jackson Mayor Scott Conger said.

Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new information on coronavirus deaths.

“Talking about the number of deaths and the causes the deaths were related to, and reporting that only six percent of the deaths that were reported are due to COVID,” Jackson-Madison County Health Department Regional Director Kim Tedford said.

That prompted Tedford to clarify the reports.

“This is information, but not new information. It lists a lot of co-morbidities. We already know that people with co-morbidities have an increased risk of dying from COVID-19, but y’all, that’s not to say that somebody with diabetes that’s well-controlled, high blood pressure, any of those co-morbidities, they may be living a normal life and contract COVID-19, and it caused them to die,” Tedford said. “They probably would not be dead from those co-morbidities if it hadn’t been for COVID-19.”

But this isn’t the only time health officials had to fight back on misinterpretations, rumors and lies spread on social media.

They also answered questions about the cost of hospital stays on Monday.

“I’ve heard that hospitals are reporting deaths as COVID deaths for the money. I can assure people that we don’t get paid for deaths,” Amy Garner, chief compliance and communications officer for West Tennessee Healthcare, said.

And they’re even having to push back against the people they’re trying to protect.

“We just want to know your contacts because we want to notify those people that they’ve been in contact with a positive case,” Tedford said. “We do not give your name or any information about the contact. We just say that you’ve been in contact, and here’s what you need to do.”

But they said all they can do is put out truthful and transparent information.

Officials also said that several county employees are having to quarantine due to exposures.