Tag / COVID-19

by Ed Achorn

Masking vital COVID-19 data

By Edward Achorn

Governments are instituted for the purpose of serving the public interest, not for advancing bureaucrats’ fetishes and goals. As Abraham Lincoln argued in his Gettysburg Address, the Union dead gave their lives so that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Our grave responsibility as citizens is to protect that system of self-government.

In Rhode Island, the administration of Governor Gina Raimondo has proved itself shockingly contemptuous of the public in refusing to share vital information about COVID-19 tests.

Dr. Andrew Bostom, a Brown medical professor and epidemiologist, has been attempting to obtain data underlying the tests, with a hope of determining how serious the threat is. What could be more important in today’s atmosphere of crisis?

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by Ed Achorn

The numbers don’t support panic

By Edward Achorn

During the last several days, politicians and the news media have been pushing hard on a COVID-19 narrative. Americans, they suggest, should be terrified of rising “cases” of the virus.

In Rhode Island, Governor Gina Raimondo proclaimed that field hospitals might have to be opened, though standard hospitals never came close to being overrun, and her experts’ projections last spring were preposterously inflated.

The governor also declared that social gatherings of more than 10 people are now verboten. She, further, barred parents from attending their children’s school sports events.

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by Ed Achorn

Don’t let COVID-19 dominate your life

By Edward Achorn

I was happy to hear President Trump speak out against fear Monday. Panic has been the worst thing about our response to deadly COVID-19.

As he was preparing to leave the Walter Reed Medical Center after being treated for a COVID-19 infection, the president tweeted this: “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.”

Back at the White House, he put out a video message: “I learned so much about coronavirus. And one thing that’s for certain: Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it.”

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by Ed Achorn

The news on COVID-19 is good

By Edward Achorn

My friends in the news media, evidently determined to promote a panic narrative all the way to the end, are not publicizing this information widely. So I thought I would.

The overall mortality rates in America — deaths from all factors — have, since Labor Day, sunk below the baseline of expected deaths. See the charts above, based on CDC data.

That means COVID-19 is no longer killing more people than could be expected to die in a normal year. This is true even for people 85 and older. The spike of last April is long over.

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by Ed Achorn

Children pay cruel price for adult fears

By Edward Achorn

This has been a terrible year for America’s children. Adults have put their fears ahead of children’s interests, closing schools while other countries kept them open. Now there is even talk of canceling Halloween.

One of the saddest developments is the requirement that children wear masks in school all day. Given how unsanitary and unpleasant that is, that seems close to child abuse. It’s cruel.

I feel sorry for kids who are bound in a stifling mask all day, suffering oxygen deprivation and worse.

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by Ed Achorn

The COVID-19 misinformation campaign

By Edward Achorn

A new Franklin Templeton-Gallup research project bears out what I have been reporting for months: the media have misinformed Americans about COVID-19. While the disease is both nasty and deadly, a daily panic narrative has led people to grossly overrate its dangers.

That has powerful, and perhaps frightening, economic and political consequences.

Sonai Desai, chief investment officer for Franklin Templeton Fixed Income, wrote about the survey on July 28 (“They Blinded Us From Science”). (A cautionary note about the survey: Franklin Templeton pushes mutual funds, so it has a stake in promoting economic activity.)

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by Ed Achorn

Far less deadly than Americans think

By Edward Achorn

It is good to be safe. But it is bad to be overwhelmed by fear, to the point you end up hurting yourself and others.

We got there with COVID-19. The data suggests the news media and the politicians (of both parties) scared Americans inordinately about the coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, China.

A recent Kekst CNC poll found that Americans believe 9 percent of the population has been killed by the coronavirus.

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by Ed Achorn

Death dumps make Americans fearful

By Edward Achorn

Earlier this summer, I posted charts showing dramatic declines in deaths from COVID-19, according to data collected by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I hoped that people would feel less panicked if they could see the big picture — something most of the news media were not showing.

“What’s wrong with you?” asked some of my Facebook friends.

They argued that it was the Sunbelt’s turn to experience the crowded hospitals and death spikes that New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts had endured in April. They warned me that events would soon render my piece embarrassingly obsolete.

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by Ed Achorn

The recent COVID-19 scare

By Edward Achorn

My thanks to Andrew Bostom, M.D., a Brown associate professor, internist, and epidemiologist, for this latest chart of national COVID-19 deaths.

The revised numbers do display that, after deaths fell for 10 straight weeks, America underwent a slight and unnerving uptick earlier this month. The raw numbers, as of July 27, are HERE.

The recent turnaround prompted near-hysteria in the news media, leading to new and economically damaging lockdowns. Americans were terrified.

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by Ed Achorn

Stop destroying children’s lives

By Edward Achorn

The science is crystal clear. Children should return to school in the fall. They are remarkably safe from catching COVID-19 and from spreading it.

Cheating them of an education and social development again this fall would be incredibly cruel.

Yes, the news media have scared many people out of their wits. Polls find many parents are terrified of sending children to school. Teachers unions and other political entities hope, as always, to exploit these fears to advance their own interests.

But I pray it is still possible for parents and leaders to muster enough courage and decency to focus on children. Young Americans need thoughtful and well-informed adults on their side.

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