How To Create A Pandemic Panic…And Keep It Going

[Geee]

Issues & Insights

This week, California, which has a death rate that is less than half the national average, is rolling back its reopening amid an increase in coronavirus cases. Elsewhere, we’re awash in stories about how states have reopened “too soon.” Why the continued panic when we know that the disease is far less lethal than originally feared?

If nothing else, the coronavirus pandemic is a textbook example of how to create fear and anxiety that is out of proportion to the threat, and spur panic-induced policies that needlessly kill people (like seniors in New York nursing homes). It also demonstrates how to keep the panic going, even as evidence piles up that the initial fears were wildly exaggerated.

Before anyone accuses us of being indifferent to COVID-19 deaths, or of being conspiracy mongers, we feel the need to point out that we aren’t saying that the coronavirus isn’t a serious public health threat. It obviously is. The question is whether the risk is being exaggerated and whether public policies enacted in the wake of it are necessary or effective.

Here are five steps that the got the coronavirus panic started and why it continues to this day.

1. Wildly exaggerate the deadliness of the disease. Most perceptions of the coronavirus were formed when the World Health Organization announced that the fatality rate was above 3%. If true, there would be millions of people dead. But it wasn’t even close to accurate. Based on ever greater amounts of data, we know that that the death rate is more like a bad flu season than the plague. Then there was the report from the Imperial College of London in March that claimed that even with draconian lockdowns in place, a million people in the U.S. would die from the coronavirus. That model has since been debunked, but the combination of the two extremely dire forecasts set the public’s perception of the disease and acceptance of draconian control measures.

[Valin]

@Geee

One of the things I have noticed is the divide on reporting on this subject. One side (MSM & yes much of fox news)  keeps pushing the WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE narrative. On the other side I see the New/Alternative (mostly Right Wing) Media saying Wait A Minute, is this really the End Of Civilization As We Know It?

Breaking down a Q&A from the House Energy & Commerce Committee hearing where in response to a question from David McKinley, Dr. Fauci makes an scandalous admission that exemplifies why people have lost faith in government and authority.

 

Also in the MSM we keep seeing the number of people who Have The Coronavirus. What we don't see is 1. The Number Hospitalized (ie Really Really Sick) 2. The Number of Deaths (in comparison to population). Why you may ask? 2 words Rounding Error. 

 

I am of the belief that there are people (often in positions of power) who are just fine with the situation we have today....Social Distancing (for some), wearing masks (makes it easier to identify the Sheep from The Goats)

[Valin]

Former Obama Official Asks Walz to Reclose All Bars for Indoor Service in Minnesota

One of former President Barack Obama’s top health care officials said he asked Gov. Tim Walz to reclose all bars in Minnesota during a Sunday phone call.

Anthony Gockowski

July 15, 2020

One of former President Barack Obama’s top health care officials said he asked Gov. Tim Walz to reclose all bars in Minnesota during a Sunday phone call.

Andy Slavitt, the former acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said he urged Walz and Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm to close “all of the bars to indoor service across the state of Minnesota” to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“I’d like to explain. As challenging as this is to bar owners and patrons, this isn’t even close to a difficult recommendation to make at this time,” said Slavitt, who lives in Edina, Minnesota.

“Bars have been the source of most of the major community hot spots. From NY to CA to TX to AZ, they represent the clearest discernible difference in accelerating case growth. When they are open, spread increases. When they close, they go down. This is not a secret,” he said on Twitter Sunday evening.

(Snip)