Before the great COVID-19 panic of 2020, influenza-B (one of several different strains of the the 'flu that manifests itself in humans yearly) was running amok in America:
"In total, there have been at least 9.7 million cases of the flu, at least 87,000 flu-related hospitalisation, and up to 12,000 deaths, according to the CDC."
Source - https://www.healthline.com/health-news/flu-season-2020-what-to-know
Of those deaths, 32 were paediatric, ie. kids. Double the deaths of children from the 'flu from the year before.
Where was the panic, the fear from the media with round the clock coverage, the calls to self-isolate, to close businesses, to put people's livelihoods at risk? Well, there wasn't. Why? Maybe because it's the 'flu. It happens every year.
Some may argue that there's a least a vaccination for the 'flu.
Which is a common misconception. There are many different strains of influenza, 4 in total. And the vaccine is always only ever a cocktail based on an educated guess. You get the wrong cocktail, you're still susceptible to catching the 'flu.
Of course, as is the case with the 'flu every year, most people won't "catch the 'flu", most who do will feel crap for a week or so, and few will die. Those who do die were already vulnerable health-wise.
Those numbers above are scarier, more fear-inducing than the numbers gathered for COVID-19.
Taking America as an example, there are 6,200 cases of COVID-19 infection with 105 deaths. That's a death rate of around 1.6%, compared to a death rate of 13.7% from the annual 'flu.
The 'flu is a bigger killer, annually, than COVID-19 has shown itself to be, globally.
The number of infections likely to happen here in the UK is between 3,000 and 4,000. That's based on the numbers from China, where 56 people per million were infected. And with WHO, for example, stating that China's death rate from infection being around 3-4%, that means the projection of deaths in the UK from COVID-19 is between 100 and 200 people.
The age group most at risk of dying from the virus is 70-80+.
- Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/
WHAT'S MY POINT?
- Lack of consistency:
It's scientifically proven that the 'flu, in its various forms, while less contagious, is more likely to lead to death. Despite vaccinations.
Yet we never see any sort of collective panic about it.
Coronavirus is more infectious but less devastating to the health, less likely to lead to death in the vast majority of the population. The 'flu kills more children, for example, than COVID-19 will.
Continuing with the lack of consistency, we're told to self-isolate, don't go to bars, cinemas, restaurants, gyms, libraries, universities, schools. No, that's wrong.
Still go to school.
Why have we to avoid gathering in large groups in close proximity to each other, but children still have go to school?
If the governments truly believed that COVID-19 was as devastating as the media is telling us it is, surely the most valuable members of society - our children - would be the first to be protected?
Granted, per the demographics, children between 10-19 years of age at a 0.2% chance of dying from contracting COVID-19.
But still. Is it because mum and dad are either being told to work from home, or worse, being told to take 8 weeks unpaid leave, that it's not a good idea to also have the kids at home too?
If we’re prepared to rationalise that the data shows COVID-19 is unlikely to kill off 10-19, which is true, then we must be prepared to accept what the rest of the data show us:
- 56 people in a million will get infected
- 3-4% will die
- Deaths will overwhelmingly be among people aged 70 and over
We can’t cherry-pick what we want from the data and create a panic. That’s confirmation bias.
- Media-driven Fear Mongering
Most of you reading this probably didn't know about the number of deaths from the 'flu in America this "'flu season". That's because the media hasn't run 24-hour coverage on it.
So, with symptoms less severe than the 'flu and a death rate significantly lower, why has COVID-19 been front and centre of most mainstream news coverage for almost 2 months?
The media pushes the narrative "3 or 4% death rate" without clarifying that this number isn't a percentage of the entire population, but rather those who end up very ill from COVID-19. Two very different numbers. No, it's not 3 or 4% of the UK's population who may die. It's 3 or 4% of those who get COVID-19. And again, based on the facts, that percentage is overwhelmingly people aged 70 and over.
It's still not "3-4% of people aged 70 and over WILL die!". It's 3-4% of people aged 70 and over **WHO GET THE VIRUS** that will die.
However, some may argue that society should lock down to prevent those deaths occurring in the first place. The counter argument to that is use the data to identify those most at risk and enforce isolation on them, not the entire population of the country.
Side-note: does the media ever get the numbers wrong? Yes. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bloomberg-political-ads/
- Overstretched Health Service
We’re being told that the NHS can’t cope. And this is because of lack of funding. Yet, the American *privately-paid-for* health system isn’t coping either. Which is it? Lack of funding or sufficient funding?
The health services of affected countries can’t cope because the media is whipping people up into a state of fear resulting in unnecessary visits to doctors and A&E. Go back to the ‘flu numbers. If we’d been bombarded with wall-to-wall news coverage about those stats, we’d all be panicking and trying to get a GP appointment because we felt a bit under the weather, or showing up at A&E because we’d sneezed 3 times in a row. Overwhelming the health service.
We’re being told we don’t have enough ventilators. Maybe so. But the only place you see this need for ventilators being mentioned is in the media. The data and the numbers don’t reveal an overwhelming need for ventilators.
- Could We Have Been Here Before?
Yes. Remember SARS? Back then we thought we were all gonna die from SARS. And with a death rate of 10%, it was scary! Of course, that number - 10% - was misleading. 80,000 confirmed cases of SARS, of which 8000 people died. A much deadlier virus that affected people regardless of age.
But we had no lock-downs. No closing of bars, restaurants, gyms, airports etc. The police weren’t given new powers of arrest (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-police-infected-uk-matt-hancock-commons-a9407636.html).
Life carried on as normal. Granted, there weren’t anywhere near as many memes. But we carried on. It blew over.
Why is different this time? I don’t know. The data doesn’t support the unprecedented mania, hysteria, fear-mongering and government reaction.
- “Such-and-Such is Closing, So it Must Be Bad”
Just because a business or local authority facility has made the decision to close its doors to the public does not mean that the situation is bad. Again, the data doesn’t support such a decision. During “‘flu season” doors don’t close “just in case”.
All this does is add to the fear and panic. “Did you hear such-and-such is closed?! Things must be really bad!”. Again, the schools aren’t closed. Yet.
- Do We Really Believe the Government Has Our Best Interests at Heart?
What puzzles me is many of us, for most of the time, are cynical and sceptical about anything the government - Westminster in particular - does. Yet now, in the midst of COVID-19 panic, whatever the government says must be gospel truth and the best possible course of action for our greater good.
OR(!) we don’t think the government is doing enough! We want more control from the government! Which, again, isn’t normally our preferred position.
- What Are We Missing?
Never let a good crisis go to waste. What other “news” stories are being ignored while the mainstream news outlets dispense non-stop coronavirus panic?
Asides from the new laws allowing unprecedented police detainment and arrest powers, what new rules, regulations, Acts of Parliament, will be pushed through off the back of this panic? Each of which we’ll be expected to roll over, accept and not question because “3-4% death rate”.
Last summer all we heard was “climate crisis/emergency”, the need to cut down on travel, to fly less, to work from home more. Most of us probably rolled our eyes at that particular “panic”. Yet, once again, the data shows that this new way of living and working is have a positive impact on the environment. Data from China and Italy backs this up.
While production, and by extension carbon output, while no doubt ramp up again, are we being socially conditioned to live, work and think differently? Is this the reason why COVID-19 is being given way more media oxygen than SARS, swine flu and even the deadlier “common ‘flu”?