During Covid, some people openly called for geronticide and for letting 'fat people' die.

True: there are documented public statements made during the Covid pandemic (2020–2021) in which identifiable people openly advocated letting elderly people die or killing them, and letting obese ('fat') people die, as acceptable or desirable; both elements must be found. Mostly true: such open advocacy is documented for one group, and for the other there are clear statements that come close to advocacy. Mixed: open advocacy is documented for only one of the two groups. Mostly false: the documented statements only accept higher deaths among the elderly or obese as a cost of policy (for example opposing lockdowns, or 'grandparents willing to take the risk') and do not openly call for their deaths, so the claim overstates them. False: no such statements are documented, and the cited examples do not concern these groups.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 The elderly and COVID-19: cocooning or culling—the choice is ours QJM: An International Journal of Medicine (Oxford Academic) · 28 April 2020

   “Not to put too fine a point on it, from an entirely disinterested economic perspective, the COVID-19 might even prove mildly beneficial in the long term by disproportionately culling elderly dependents”

2. E2 The concept of ‘herd immunity’ against Covid-19 smacks of eugenics of the market Daily Maverick (first published by Al Jazeera) · 15 April 2020

   “This is also what US President Donald Trump recently tried to convey when he said the deaths caused by an economic crisis due to lockdowns and stoppages will be far higher than the mortality of Covid-19 itself.”

3. E3 GOP Candidate: COVID “Wasn’t Bad Enough” Because Not Enough “Fat People” Died Yahoo News (originally MeidasTouch) · 25 September 2026

   “No, no, I'm here for it, dude. I'm of the opinion COVID wasn't bad enough because if you had something that just unfairly targeted fucking fat people, I'm here for it”

4. E4 YouTuber Ethan Klein calls Joe Rogan a ‘piece of s***’ for vaccine misinformation The Independent · 4 January 2022

   “Now he’s on his show talking about how fat people should just die of covid – dude is such a f***ing piece of s***.”

5. E5 The elderly and COVID-19: cocooning or culling—the choice is ours QJM: An International Journal of Medicine (Oxford Academic) · 28 April 2020

   “Not to put too fine a point on it, from an entirely disinterested economic perspective, the COVID-19 might even prove mildly beneficial in the long term by disproportionately culling elderly dependents”

6. E6 The elderly and COVID-19: cocooning or culling—the choice is ours QJM: An International Journal of Medicine (Oxford Academic) · 28 April 2020

   “Any discrimination based on age, disability or wealth would be immoral.”

7. E7 Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says a bad economy is worse than coronavirus The Texas Tribune · 23 March 2020

   “Let’s be smart about it, and those of us who are 70-plus, we’ll take care of ourselves, but don’t sacrifice the country. Don’t do that.”

8. E8 The Elderly: Unworthy of Life? | Los Angeles Review of Books Los Angeles Review of Books · 26 April 2020

   “According to The Sunday Times, Cummings told a private gathering in March that the government’s goals were “herd immunity, protect the economy and if that means some pensioners die, too bad.””

9. E9 The Elderly: Unworthy of Life? | Los Angeles Review of Books Los Angeles Review of Books · 26 April 2020

   “A month ago, Trump’s favorite quack physician, Dr. Mehmet Oz, told Sean Hannity on Fox that reopening schools “may only cost us two to three percent in terms of total mortality,” a “trade-off some folks would consider.””

For elderly people, the documented 2020 statements treat deaths as an acceptable cost of policy rather than openly calling for them. Dan Patrick said older people would "take care of ourselves" rather than "sacrifice the country" (E7). Cummings was reported as saying "if that means some pensioners die, too bad" (E9). Oz described a "trade-off" (E10). The QJM line about "culling" (E1/E5) is raised in an article that itself calls age discrimination immoral (E6). For "fat people", the only evidence is a critic's January 2022 paraphrase of Rogan (E4) and a remark reported in a 2026 article (E3) that does not show when the remark was made, so it does not document open advocacy during 2020–2021. Under the criteria, this fits accepting deaths as a policy cost, not openly calling for them.