Armstrong County Coroner Calls Out Dr. Levine. Urges Attorney General to Investigate

Breaking News: Tonight in a post on the Armstrong County Coroner’s Facebook Page, Brian Myers, calls for PA Attorney General, Josh Shapiro to investigate the gross negligence Dr. Levine and her department has exhibited throughout this Covid-19 outbreak. Myers in the post below publicly questions the competency of PA Secretary of Health, Dr. Levine, and her department’s staff.

Maybe it’s time for the Pa Attorney General to look into the actions of the Health Secretary Dr. Levine and get to the truth is it unqualified staff, is it incompetence or is it just fraud? The people of Pa deserve the truth!
Over the past two decades, serving both as Deputy Coroner and Coroner, I, as well as the staff of my office have always made every attempt to be as straightforward and honest with the residents of this county and family members of every person we serve.

During the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, it has been brought to my attention some untruths and misleading statistics released by the Department of Health.

Last week, I placed many phone calls to the Department of Health in an attempt to correct these inconsistencies. I believe that the residents of our county should not be misled or confused by falsified data. Unfortunately, my calls fell upon deaf ears.

The Department of Health and their website, which is updated daily, had reported that six people in our county had died due to COVID-19. This is incorrect. Where and how they came up with this number is unknown to me. The correct number for Armstrong County is two.

Over the weekend, my office subpoenaed the Dept. of Health to get information related to all the deaths they attributed to Armstrong County. As of their noon website update, the number of Armstrong deaths had been corrected, and now reads two.

As to their motives behind inflating the numbers, I haven’t a clue. However, I am positive that other counties are in the same position.

As a public servant and elected official, I believe in transparency and truth in numbers. The residents of Armstrong County should always be made aware of the truth.

The pressure has been turned up a notch on Dr. Levine and the Wolf Administration the past couple weeks. Last week the Monroe County Coroner, Tom Yanac, sent a letter to Governor Wolf calling for Dr. Levine’s resignation for her mismanagement of the state’s electronic death registrations system (EDRS).

Then it was widely reported that Dr. Levine removed her 95 year old mother from a personal care home and placed her in a hotel room early on during the statewide outbreak. Yet Dr. Levine ordered nursing homes and private care facilities to continue to admit patients who tested positive for Covid-19 into their facilities. This decision has proven devastating as nearly 70% percent of PA Covid-19 deaths have been residents in these facilities. This triggered a handful of GOP state lawmakers and the state GOP Chairman to call for Dr. Levine’s resignation as well.