Idaho Republican caught spreading lie about 45-year-old nurse who died from COVID-19

A Idaho Republican legislator is taking some heat thanks to a Facebook post where she tried to cast doubt on the details surrounding the death of a pediatric nurse practitioner who died from complications from the coronavirus, the Idaho Statesman reports.

Rep. Tammy Nichols shared a post from another Facebook user who theorized that the death of 45-year-old Samantha Hickey, an employee of St. Luke's Health System, was being misrepresented by the media in order to inflate infection rates. The post included an Idaho Statesman story that pointed out Hickey's death was due to cardiac issues brought on by the virus.

According to Hickey's husband, she endured a wide range of symptoms, but when doctors discovered how the virus was affecting her heart, it was too late, saying that “the virus had set up shop in the muscle of her heart (and caused) myocarditis. It just attacked the muscles and the cells of the muscles. ... She just could not come past that.”

When screenshots of Nichols' post where shared on Twitter, people slammed Nichols' for sharing what they saw as misinformation.

“I am at a loss for words right now except the ones I can’t say in front of my son,” said St Luke's spokesperson Anita Kissée.

Retired St. Luke's CEO David Pate said, “I don’t think I have said a bad word this year ... until now.”

Speaking to the Idaho Statesman, Nichols said that it's her understanding that "dying from Covid is that there were no other underlying health issues or circumstances, dying with Covid is that there were other health issues or circumstances involved.”

The post is no longer on her page, although Nichols denies deleting it.