The New York Times published another crock of fear this morning. It came on the heels of Trump leaving the hospital with COVID-19 and several comorbidities, climbing a tall flight of stairs, and his urging Americans not to live in fear of COVID-19. The “Rational Fear” story was at the top of NYTs morning email feed.
The piece said, “Most other rich countries have been much more successful in fighting the virus than the U.S,” and presented a chart which was allegedly the “simplest way to see this.” The chart allegedly illustrates the deaths per million for Europe, Canada, and the U.S. (It did not present the numbers for Africa, a continent where hydroxychloroquine is an over-the-counter drug and taken by almost everyone because it is cheap and reduces the risk of malaria.) The U.S. allegedly has just over 600 deaths per million (0.06% of the population), while Europe and Canada have just over 300 and 200, respectively (while Africa has about 30).
Those numbers would be both shocking and damning of America’s handling of the pandemic if the numbers were comparable. The numbers are gibberish if they are not comparable.
Dr. Birx announced during a task force meeting that the U.S. numbers are not comparable to the numbers reported by other countries. (See linked video.) Moreover, the CDC guidance on COVID-19 reporting says, “In cases where a definite diagnosis of COVID–19 cannot be made, but it is suspected or likely (e.g., the circumstances are compelling within a reasonable degree of certainty), it is acceptable to report COVID–19 on a death certificate as ‘probable’ or ‘presumed’.” A confirming test for COVID-19 is not required. Surely, Germans, Swedes, Norwegians, Fins, Danes… would neither contaminate their scientific data as the U.S. has nor want to put their county in a bad light with overstated COVID-19 death.
Whether or not you believe Democrat politicians have fear mongered to defeat Trump, many people, including doctors and nurses who report COVID-19 deaths, believe that putting Trump’s handling of the pandemic in as bad a light as possible helps achieve what is best for the country. Some of those reporters erred on the side of reporting COVID-19 or lied about their “presumptions.”
In short, the New York Times used incomparable data to produce fake news.
Biden, who knows what jubilates his base, went so far as to blame all 200,000+ deaths on Trump’s handling of the pandemic. (If he believes that, his mental condition is worse than many fear.) Biden must believe that absurdity works on Democrats as much as Democrats think absurdity works on Republicans.
This is another example of how “The Truth Is Hard For the New York Times.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkbc7eO2T94
