On October 8, Nathaneal Spitzer — just 14 years old — died..The death of a promising child so young in this world is every parent’s nightmare. My heart — and that of every Albertan hearing the news — was broken..On Tuesday, Alberta Chief Medical Officer Deena Hinshaw reported that a 14-year-old had died in Alberta as a COVID-19 case, although there were “pre-existing conditions”..As it turns out, Nathaneal didn’t die from COVID-19 at all. Those “pre-existing conditions” were in fact Stage 4 terminal brain cancer. He was on his deathbed in palliative care when he tested positive for COVID-19..He died days later of brain cancer, but Alberta Health labeled his death a COVID-19 fatality, which Hinshaw reported to the media..The media dutifully reported on the death, a case that showed COVID-19 doesn’t just kill the elderly and sick, but the young..NDP Leader Rachel Notley took to Twitter to express her outrage the government would even mention “pre-existing conditions.” Better that his death be counted among those lost to COVID entirely. Better to lay his death at the feet of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney..“Telling their loved ones that there were other health complications that contributed to their death offers no comfort whatsoever,” tweeted Notley..“No matter what ‘pre-existing conditions’ they had, this child died during a fourth wave that was preventable. This shouldn’t have happened. We need to know what will be done to stop it from happening again.”.But Nathaneal’s death had nothing to do with the “fourth wave that was preventable.” In fact, his death was entirely due to what Notley called “other health complications.”.This is the morbid state of pandemic politics in 2021..As of publishing, Notley has not apologized or removed her tweets..Nathaneal’s sister Simone was devastated by the government and media falsely reporting her brother’s death as a COVID-19 case. She took to Facebook, to tell the truth about what happened..“He died from Stage 4 brain cancer, not from covid. This is fake news,” she wrote..“He was diagnosed in January 2021, and hospitalized in August. Two days before his death he was tested for covid and it turned out positive.”.This clarification came to the Western Standard’s attention not long after it was posted. Our reporters investigated and confirmed that Simone was in fact the sister of Nathaneal..Western Standard correspondent Melanie Risdon published the story Wednesday afternoon..And unless I’m mistaken, every single last mainstream, government-funded media outlet in Alberta ignored the family’s story entirely. The family — who might just know something about the fate of their lost loved one — were ignored. Their story didn’t fit with what was already in print and on the TV. Their story didn’t fit the narrative. Their story was best forgotten..This was not an inconsequential story. This was not sensationalist click bait. This was not some Q’Anon conspiracy theory..This was the Government of Alberta inflating the COVID-19 death statistics. This was mainstream media ignoring the facts from the family that contradicted the official government story, which had already been dutifully reported..This did not come out of left field — we know there have been bogus government reporting on what constitutes COVID-19 deaths in many jurisdictions..The Western Standard kept at this story. At our morning editorial meeting today, I instructed that this story remain our focus, and that we tell their story until someone listened..By the afternoon, someone had. Hinshaw took to her podium to apologize for misidentifying Nathaneal’s death as a COVID fatality. She promised fatality numbers would be better classified for young people under 18 going forward. From now on, only actual COVID-19 deaths would be labeled COVID-19 deaths – for those under 18..At last, the MSM could report on what really happened. Long after the Spitzer family publicly told the truth on social media for the world to see, the legacy media felt comfortable enough to report on the issue. It was now a part of the official story, as the government tells it..As much as I may take glee in sticking it to our mainstream competitors, I write this at the end of my regular workday genuinely depressed about the state of government communications and media. Errors happen (we’ve made them.) Newsrooms can be short-staffed, and stories missed (we have.) But this was different. This was mass omission of a key and indispensable element of a story that everyone had already published when the information was there for all to see (we had already reported on it)..The only part of the story more important than government lying about a child’s cause of death, was that a child died before his time..Our politicians need to stop playing football with life and death. Our media need to stop trusting everything they are told by the government, and the public needs to stop trusting everything they are told by the media..Derek Fildebrandt is Publisher of the Western Standard.,.dfildebrandt@westernstandardonline.com
