Like many state governments, the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) has made COVID-19/coronavirus statistical information available on a dashboard website, complete with the statewide totals and county-by-county totals.

Last week, the ADPH changed how it classified virus deaths, which, according to reports, was done to conform to the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) National Vital Statistics System for reporting coronavirus-related deaths. Before last Thursday, ADPH listed “reported deaths” and “confirmed deaths.” However, that changed to one single statistic, which is listed as “COVID-19 deaths.”ADPH explained the change on its Twitter account in a multi-part thread post. However, the explanation was greeted with one question about what might happen if a person were hit by a bus, died, but tested positive for the virus.

“So if someone gets hit by a bus and they test positive for Covid, it’s a recorded as a Covid death?” Twitter user @barryb75 asked.

“CDC has advised that persons who test positive for COVID-19 and die are to be counted as a COVID-19 death. Persons whose death certificates report COVID-19 as a cause of death are to be counted as a COVID-19 death,” the ADPH Twitter account replied.

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of Huntsville’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN.