Whopper of the week: 1.2 Million Americans Died of COVID19, but the Secretary of Health and Human Services has no idea

THIS WEEK'S WHOPPER: 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, claims that no one knows how many really people died of COVID19, including him. 

IN SUMMARY:

Although Kennedy claims that ““no one knows” how many people died of COVID19, the CDC used both classic and cutting-edge methods to determine death rates, triangulating robust data from multiple sources.  Academic researchers, the World Health Organization, and other experts agree with the CDC’s conclusion that more than one million Americans died of COVID19 during the first two years of the pandemic.

WHY IS THIS A WHOPPER?

During the Senate Finance Committee hearing on September 4, 2025, Senator Warner asked HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. how many Americans died of Covid.  Kennedy responded that he did not know.  “I don’t think anyone knows because there was so much data chaos coming out of the CDC.” 

Mr. Kennedy’s claim of not knowing how many people died from COVID-19 is an egregious lie. He alleges that there is “chaos” around the data in order to seed doubt about the capabilities of scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who have carefully estimated these rates. While it is true that counting these deaths is complicated, providing accurate estimates is exactly what epidemiologists and public health professionals are trained to do. Kennedy likely refers to their work as “chaos” for the simple reason that he does not understand how this work is done. 

For the past 8 decades, the CDC has been a world leader in epidemiology, the scientific discipline of measuring the impact of diseases on populations. In April 2020, the CDC created a systematic way of reporting COVID-19 deaths. The data was collected from state health departments, who in turn were sent the information from physicians, coroners, and medical examiners. These healthcare workers used their best medical judgment to determine the ultimate underlying cause of death and contributing factors using medical history, medical records, laboratory tests, autopsy reports and other sources of medical information. When circumstances were highly likely or compelling, probable or presumed cases were counted as COVID-19 deaths. While not perfect, the CDC’s system was able to capture crucial information about the cumulative number of deaths from COVID-19 in the United States.  

The 1.2 million deaths that the CDC itself reports is, if anything, an underestimate. Since the COVID-19 epidemic, the United States is still experiencing more deaths than expected.  Rates of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease are rising due to SARS-CoV2 infections. Deaths from COVID-19 sequelae, which can happen months to years after an infection, will not likely be attributed to COVID-19, contributing to an underestimate or misclassification of deaths.  

HOW MIGHT THIS IMPACT YOU?

Kennedy’s denial of the 1.2 million American deaths from COVID-19 is insulting to all the people who lost loved ones during the pandemic. His refusal to acknowledge these deaths is consistent with the Trump administration’s strategy of minimizing the COVID-19 and pretending the pandemic was no big deal. Kennedy also wants to sow distrust in the CDC and its scientific methods. The health of Americans and the safety of American communities will suffer, if they no longer believe in the trustworthiness of public health experts and the data they produce about epidemics or any other health threats.  

Contributors to this post are: Aurora Horstcamp, MD; and Miriam Rabkin, MD, MPH, Benedicte Callan, PhD.