ACOG Statement About Reporting of COVID-19 Cases

Washington, DC –The following is a statement from Eva Chalas, MD, FACOG, FACS, President of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and Maureen G. Phipps, MD, MPH, Chief Executive Officer of ACOG, regarding allegations that cases of COVID-19 have been inflated by the health care community for financial gain.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, health care professionals, including obstetrician-gynecologists, have cared for patients despite significant risk to themselves and their communities – and, as the nation enters a new surge in infections, they continue to do so. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been more than 8 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States, with approximately 225,000 deaths.

“Science is science and data are data. Doctors have no reason to make up or to inflate COVID-19 case numbers. In fact, many physicians and other health care workers have died from the virus. It is irresponsible and dangerous to suggest that doctors, including obstetrician-gynecologists, have done anything other than bravely battle this pandemic on behalf of their patients and their communities.”