The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) condemns baseless claims that physicians and hospitals are overcounting or inflating the number of deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic. People with kidney failure are the most vulnerable patients to COVID-19 in the entire Medicare population.
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) condemns baseless claims that physicians and hospitals are overcounting or inflating the number of deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic. People with kidney failure are the most vulnerable patients to COVID-19 in the entire Medicare population.
SARS-coV-2 has infected over 40,000,000 people and killed more than 1,000,000 globally (1). Approximately one in five of these deaths has occurred in the United States. Families and communities have been devastated, while health care professionals have risked and—in some cases lost—their lives caring for people with COVID-19, sometimes working without adequate personal protective equipment.
As the pandemic continues to ravage the United States, the idea that health care professionals would have to defend their commitment to speaking the truth about the extent of COVID-19 on their patients, their communities and families, and their country, is reprehensible.
To protect health professionals and address the needs of this pandemic, ASN calls on US President Donald J. Trump to:
- Issue a federal mandate to encourage social distancing, require the wearing of face masks, and promote frequent hand hygiene; and
- Oppose proposals to allow more spread of infection to achieve what is referred to as “herd immunity,” including as recommended in the Great Barrington Declaration (2).
America’s physicians and other health professionals—including ASN’s more than 21,000 members—will continue to provide the highest standards of care and generate evidence-based information during this crisis.
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