Before I begin my daily update, I would like to officially state that I have never been so disgusted with the U.S. press as I am now.
I have spent the past ten years discussing their distortions, spin, obfuscations, and progressive pandering. But I never have fully appreciated full extent of the American media’s destructive abilities until this week.
Journalists and pundits rushed to hurt President Donald Trump and get clicks. Reporters have over-hyped the hazards associated with a coronavirus (a class of pathogen that has been studied and understood). They ginned up mortality rates based on errant statistical approaches, then sat back and gleefully reported on panic-selling on Wall Street and panic-buying at Costco.
Their antics now have directly hurt my son since the reports fail to underscore the limited risk to young people. Due to the fact politicians are running scared because of the drama, my son’s Junior ROTC Cadet Ball, which he has been looking forward to all year as part of his senior year activities, has been canceled.
No special memories. No banquet. Nada.
As a biosafety professional, I have been fielding questions from friends and clients for the past few days. One of my friends has a husband who wants to stop taking his arthritis medication because of its impact on the immune system. He was going to do it on his own, but I begged him to talk to a doctor first.
How much pain would he have to go through as a result of giving in to the fear?
When the outbreaks in China began, there was ample reason to worry. The disease seemed genuinely novel, and the Chinese were not forthcoming in their reports. However, American medical professionals have had time to evaluate the virus, ascertain the likely outcomes, and identify risk factors.
How many people will suffer and potentially die because of the press-induced stress the junk science coverage has caused?
Here is a handy reminder of another media stunt, this time covering its version of “climate science.”
As I have noted before, 80% of those infected have mild symptoms of illness and improve with no medical intervention.
An American woman who has recovered from the novel coronavirus has a simple message for people who are worried: Don’t panic — but do think about high-risk individuals and stay home if you feel ill.Elizabeth Schneider lives in Seattle, the biggest city of Washington state, which has the most deaths in the United States from the disease sweeping the globe.The 37-year-old, who has a PhD in bioengineering, said she was sharing her story “to give people a little bit of hope” through her own relatively mild experience with the infection, which she treated herself from home.
Her symptoms were fever, chills, and a headache.
We recently were treated to a classic example of how the American press does the math, as it related to Michael Bloomberg’s campaign spending. Here is Dr. Anthony Fauci’s warning about more math hype.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appeared Thursday to downplay the hype surrounding a congressional doctor’s estimate that the U.S. could see 70 million to 150 million coronavirus cases.Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., asked Fauci about the estimate during a congressional hearing.”Earlier this week, Congress’ attending physician told the Senate that he expects between 70 to 150 million people to contract the coronavirus in the United States,” said Tlaib, referring to figures reported by Axios on Wednesday. “Dr. Fauci, is he wrong?”“I think we really need to be careful with those kinds of predictions, because that’s based on a model,” Fauci replied.”So, all models are as good as the assumptions that you put into the model … it’s unpredictable. So, testing now is not going to tell me how many cases you are going to have. What will tell you what you’re going to have will be how you respond to it with containment and mitigation,” he continued.
President Donald Trump is expected to announce an executive order insisting on American-made medical supplies and pharmaceuticals in response to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a person familiar with the plan, as the White House begins to come to grips with the severity of the situation….In one order Trump issued Wednesday, he authorized Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to take whatever steps are necessary to allow doctors and nurses to use masks made for industrial use while those made specifically for health care are in short supply. Companies have been seeking legal cover for that.
We wish both her a speedy recovery, and hope that the Canadian press does better in its coverage than ours.
The prime minister’s wife has tested positive for the new coronavirus.In a statement Thursday night, Justin Trudeau’s office said: “Following medical recommendations, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau was tested for COVID-19 today. The test came back positive.”The statement says she will remain in isolation.“She is feeling well, is taking all the recommended precautions and her symptoms remain mild,” it said.
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