MSNBC Science Contributor Joseph Fair, Ph.D., MPH refuted the Trump administration characterization of the WHO coronavirus test. It is the CDC test that failed.
Coronavirus misinformation dispelled
The country is in a panic right now. As I go to all the major grocers in my area including Costco, Sams, Kroger, and HEB, shelves are empty. Trump and his cabal, at the time they are supposed to be leaders, are busy lying to Americans.
The mortality rate of coronavirus thus far while higher than influenza is relatively low for most people except the elderly and health compromised. So one wonders why most Americans are panicking when centralizing our efforts on the most afflicted may be apropos.
Americans are panicking because of the vacuum left by the president and his administration. Vacuums are generally filled with the closest thing present. And given the absence of valid information, it gets filled with speculation and conspiracy theories.
A friend who owns a restaurant in Houston called me very upset. Houston shuttered all of its restaurants and bars. He just cannot understand why such a debilitating and costly wound is being imposed on our economy. Ebola has a mortality rate between 25% to 90%, yet we never saw a reaction like this.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) has a mortality rate that seems at worst to be 3% to 4%. Again, why the panic that we are seeing? The reaction has me more concerned than the pandemic at this time because it leads one to wonder what we may be missing about this entire ordeal. Or what are they not telling us?
Mortality for COVID-19 appears higher than for influenza, especially seasonal influenza. While the true mortality of COVID-19 will take some time to fully understand, the data we have so far indicate that the crude mortality ratio (the number of reported deaths divided by the reported cases) is between 3-4%, the infection mortality rate (the number of reported deaths divided by the number of infections) will be lower. For seasonal influenza, mortality is usually well below 0.1%. However, mortality is to a large extent determined by access to and quality of health care.
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I’d suggest you drop using the term “common flu”, which tends to make listeners think common cold and influenza are equally innocuous. Influenza can and does kill, thankfully, as you said, at a much lower rate than COVID-19. That entire meme of “common flu” was started by Trump and that needs to be nipped in the bud, before we start ignoring influenza again, which didn’t work out very well in 1918.
You’re also glossing over the deaths of relatively young people, who succumbed to COVID-19 by stating only the elderly are in danger. The elderly are indeed much more in danger than the young, but the risk is still rather high for the young as well. People are on ventilators for a reason, it’s not because they have a cold!
The article was not intended to dismiss but to provide relative reaction. If I failed at that let your comment be the addendum to the article. Thanks my friend.
Even the MSNBC commentator got it wrong. This is a constant with the majority of news media, especially CNN and MSNBC. THIS is why so many (mostly left and Democrats) are freaking out, because so much disinformation is being put out, along with opinion conflated as fact.
This panic, is due to the leftist media and Democrats. President Trump was trying to keep people calm while making decisions to protect people, such as the China travel ban early on. Democrats criticized Trump for this, calling him xenophobic. Yet, it was highly recommended by top medical officials. Biden and Bernie are still calling for open borders, which is why Europe is now the epicenter.
If you can’t be honest and factual, you’ll never grow your audience.
Read what the facts are:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/health/coronavirus-tests-who.html
@Mike, with respect, the media and “the left” have been giving WHO and CDC sponsored advice, the far right insisting upon ignoring distancing, not gathering in large groups and some even verging dangerously closely to the felony of sedition.
Yesterday, multiple pastors that self-described as conservative, denounced all measures of avoiding spreading the disease and some ignored the orders of their Governors and held services, claiming that God will protect them.
That worked ever so well during the 1918 pandemic, worked just as well during the Black Death pandemics, wiping out entire towns and villages in both disease pandemics!
Another nonreligious type is just this side of sedition, all he needs to do is mention militia and he could get a very long haul for that felony, thus far insisting that all of his followers take to the streets, force open businesses that cater to large numbers of the public and “remove the influence of government”. America’s sheriff my buttocks! Free speech and religion all have boundaries and people seem to have to be reminded of that.
But no, it’s all panicking and falsehoods repeated as news, save for Ruskie disinformation sources and far right media outlets.
Soon, we’ll be right next to Italy, with most of our newspapers containing the most relevant news, obituaries, there not being enough ink and paper to cover anything else.
Now, excuse me. Have to run out to the store and hoard four rolls of toilet paper and a gallon of milk. Might also grab some bread, as it’s going to be raining for the next four days or so.
I can tell that you’re not trying to dismiss the importance of the disease and pathetic mismanagement of the spread of the virus, but as I mentioned, referring to influenza as “common influenza” creates a psychological link with the far more severe influenza with the relatively tame common cold caused largely by rhinovirus.
Just something to watch for in future posts and interviews, to avoid reinforcing the disinformation already promulgated by the maladministration.