Media members focus on deaths in the United States from COVID-19 without providing any historical numbers. Epidemiologists tell the public that COVID-19 is a killer virus so severe the people must “social distance,” which includes closing businesses and closing schools to save lives. However, if reported to the people, historical data might have many people deciding living life normally is worth the risk.
Unfortunately, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s go-to epidemiologist, uses language to escalate fear and hide the true risk the people face. In testimony to Congress at the start of the pandemic, Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, explained COVID-19’s mortality rate by comparing it to the flu. He testified the flu mortality rate is .1% and then said COVID-19 is probably ten times higher than the flu. The part that got the headline in all the major media was COVID-19 is ten times more deadly than the flu. Imagine if Fauci had said the flu is dealy in .1% of cases and COVID-19 is deadly in 1% of the cases, and for 99% of the cases, death is not likely.
By using the ten times number, Fauci made and continues to instill fear in Americans. One study of American perceptions of the pandemic found U.S. respondents in the U.S. believed the pandemic already killed 9% of the U.S. population. Fauci never puts the COVID-19 deaths into perspective with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention own numbers on deaths from all causes in America.
For example, the peak level of deaths per week so far this year is 78,775. Listening to the media, readers and viewers believe the millions are dying. In fact, total deaths peaked in one week in April at 78,775. The most recent peak was slightly over 11,000 over the last peak of 67,495 and about 25,000 deaths more than the average of 53,658 for the period between late 2013 and October 2020.
Links To Data Sources:
Select Global Times Series Files: time_series_covid19_deaths_global.csv
Pneumonia and Influenza Mortality Surveillance from the National Center for Health Statistics Mortality Surveillance System: Select Download. Custom: Surveillance Area: National / Seasons: All / Age Groups: All