One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was again permitted to spout her dangerous and unfounded views on breakfast television this morning, using today’s stint to claim the coronavirus death toll has been artificially inflated.
Appearing on Today Monday morning, the senator said she believed the pandemic has been “a real scare-monger on the people” and was “blown completely out of proportion.”
Her logic, if you could call it that, hinged on the allegation that some people who’ve recently died in car accidents had their cause of death falsely labelled as COVID-19.
“People that die in a car accident and have COVID are considered to have died because of COVID,” Hanson claimed.
Simply put: That’s not how it works.
In Australia, coronial reports focus on the most probable medical reason for an individual’s death. If a person who had COVID-19 lost their life in a traffic accident, their official cause of death would reflect the injuries they sustained, not the illness.
COVID-19 would only be listed if the virus directly caused the accident itself. For instance, if a person with COVID-19 experienced severe respiratory distress and lost control of their vehicle, COVID-19 would be circled as the cause of death.
Hanson’s claim received zero pushback from host Allison Langdon, nor did Hanson’s false allegations that Melbourne’s rally against Indigenous deaths in custody led to Victoria’s ongoing spike in cases (it didn’t), or that police refused to fine those involved (three organisers did cop $1,600 infringement notices).
To cap it all off, Hanson appeared to stir up a little panic about the nasal swab used in standard COVID-19 testing procedures.
While Hanson said she was “all for” the tests, she said “be wary of it, because it’s going to end up halfway down your throat.”
It’s all standard stuff for Hanson, whose career was revitalised by panicked breakfast TV appearances.
But with case numbers on the rise in Victoria, and health authorities warning young people to stay vigilant, downplaying the risk of the pandemic seems less than helpful.
As of Monday morning, 104 people have died in Australia as a result of the virus.
“The Court can confirm that COVID-19 has not been detected in any deaths reported to the coroner,” a Coroners Court of Victoria spokesperson said.
