Multiple media outlets and the Alberta government have chosen to politically propagandize the death of a 14-year-old Albertan with complex preconditions, saying it was COVID, not his horrifying medical history, that caused death. Now, his big sister, Simon Spitzer, has come out to set the record straight.
“The 14-year-old [in] the article is my brother,” wrote Simone Spitzer on Facebook, responding to a City News article. “He died from stage 4 brain cancer, not from COVID.”
“This is fake news,” she continued. “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…”
“Please share and comment that this is fake,” she pleaded.
Despite undoubtedly knowing that COVID had nothing to do with the teen’s death, several NDP politicians are exploiting his death to form a rallying point in Alberta’s relentless march towards tyranny.
“For the ~12% of us in Alberta who have asthma, downplaying the death of a 14-year-old for comorbidities is the opposite of comforting. This is a life snuffed short. It’s a tragedy and a disaster,” wrote NDP MLA Thomas Dang, conveniently forgetting to mention what that comorbidity was.
For the ~12% of us in Alberta who have asthma, downplaying the death of a 14 year old for comorbidities is the opposite of comforting.
This is a life snuffed short. It's a tragedy and a disaster.#ableg #covid19ab #yeg #yyc #yql #abhealth
— Thomas Dang (@ThomasDangAB) October 13, 2021
Chief Medical Officer Deena Hinshaw also singled the boy’s death out, saying that complications from COVID are rare for young people but still going right ahead to use the death to promote vaccination.
Not wanting to be outdone, a few doctors have crawled out of the woodworks to spread misinformation.
“”A 14-year-old child with parents who loved them has died because someone, somewhere, didn’t want to get vaccinated and Jason Kenney needed to flip pancakes at Stampede” There, fixed it for you, Hinshaw,” tweeted Dr. Jason Weatherald, straight-up lying that people not getting vaccinated caused the boy’s death.
“A 14 year old child with parents who loved them has died because someone, somewhere, didn’t want to get vaccinated and Jason Kenney needed to flip pancakes at Stampede”
There, fixed it for you @CMOH_Alberta https://t.co/PS21eMtlqf
— Jason Weatherald MD (@CalgaryPHdoc) October 13, 2021
Dr. David Keegan also weighed in, tweeting, “A 14-year-old dying from a fully predicted and completely preventable explosion of covid is not normal, and not acceptable. This 14-year-old may otherwise have grown and thrived into adulthood. Deliberate inaction was the cause of death, not covid.”
A 14-year-old dying from a fully predicted and completely preventable explosion of covid is not normal, and not acceptable.
This 14 year old may otherwise have grown and thrived into adulthood. Deliberate inaction was the cause of death, not covid.@PopAlberta @CMOH_Alberta https://t.co/3h0bJFBMT2
— David Keegan – settler on Indigenous Lands (@drDavidKeegan) October 12, 2021
Worst of all of these comments are those regarding the boy’s family. While their grief has been considered, the publicity and exploitation of his death clearly have not.