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In late July 2020, Snopes readers began inquiring about news reports that a person killed in a motorcycle crash had been listed as a COVID-19 death in Florida. Florida was among states experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases amid the ongoing pandemic, but political leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump and Trump supporters such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis were criticized for downplaying the virus. During a press conference July 20, DeSantis pointed to the case of the motorcyclist, saying: Contrary to what DeSantis stated, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance doesn't direct caregivers to list all deaths as COVID-19 deaths simply because the disease was detected in the decedent. Instead, it instructs caregivers to list various factors contributing to death in appropriate sections of death certificates. In other words, it does not state that anyone who suffers an unnatural death such as a traffic accident should be listed as a COVID-19-caused death if they also happen to test positive, even if the disease didn't cause to their death. It does appear to the case, however, that a motorcyclist who was killed in a traffic accident also tested positive for COVID-19, and was initially listed among Florida's COVID-19-related deaths. But officials from the Florida Department of Health said that person has since been removed from the count. The story about the motorcyclist was initially reported by WOFL, an Orlando-based TV news station, which learned the information in a phone conversation with Orange County Health Officer Dr. Raul Pino. In the July 17 article, WOFL reported: WOFL updated the story two days later to indicate that the motorcyclist death had been removed from the COVID-19 death tally. Kent Donahue, a spokesman for Pino's office, confirmed that to be the case in a phone interview with Snopes. We therefore list this claim as Outdated.
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