Calcasieu Coroner: COVID-19 Classified Deaths Are Legit

For reasons I will never understand, some of us absolutely refuse to deal with the fact that the coronavirus is a real thing. It's real, people! It is killing people around the world, across the nation and yes, here in our community.

It's a shame the Calcasieu Coroner, Dr. Terry Welke, had to do a briefing to defend his office and confirm the COVID-19 related deaths they've reported were legit. But he did. It's crazy to think this man would cook the books just to make it seem like things were worse than they really are.

People, wake up. Please. This is a virus, and we are all going to have to get on the same page to defeat it. That is the reality we are all in. We are going to have to work together or we will be dealing with this virus for a long time. And if you don't like the classified COVID-19 deaths the coroner's office is reporting now, you're really gonna be upset by the end of the year.

KPLC 7 reports the Dr. Terry had to reiterate that his office has been extremely cautious about classifying COVID-19 deaths in the parish. He explained in detail that they do an actual death investigation to ensure the official cause is listed accurately each time.

When the coroner’s office gets a call of a possible COVID death from a hospital, hospice, or law enforcement, they take the info collected but it doesn't stop there. A investigator gathers additional info to include medical records/history and more before making a final determination.

Dr. Terry also addressed rumors his office was taking some kind of payment to falsify COVID-19 deaths. The Calcasieu Coroner said it's simply not true and went on to give the cold, hard statistics on the impact of COVID-19 in Louisiana. Welke said last year, there were 1,550 deaths from the flu and so far this year, 3,811 people in Louisiana have died of COVID-19.

Like it or not, the doctor said during the Thursday briefing,  "We’re getting three to four COVID deaths a day and, unfortunately, they continue to go up.”

He admitted the number of deaths are astronomical and even in the business they're in, no one at his office is used to seeing this much death.