So…How Much Do You Know About COVID-19?
A piece by Doug Badger over at The Daily Signal is getting a lot of attention as people take the quiz to see how they do in sorting fear from facts in the blizzard of “information” about COVID-19.
A lot of decisions are being made based upon inaccurate, distorted, and misunderstood reports and data, making it harder to concentrate on protecting those most at risk and leading to harsh restrictions that harm people who are much less at risk.
I highly recommend you Take the Quiz.
But if you just want a few highlights, spoiler alert, here goes:
True or False: COVID-19 is now the leading cause of death in the U.S.
It’s not even close, Badger writes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows that less than 10% of the more than 1.5 million deaths that have occurred in the U.S. so far this year are related to the contagion. “COVID-19 isn’t even the leading cause of death among the elderly.”
How about this:
True or False: The U.S. has the highest COVID-19 death rate in the world.
False: When compared with countries with populations of 1 million or more, “the U.S. ranks eighth [in death rate]…behind Belgium, the U.K., Spain, Peru, Italy, Sweden, and Chile.”
And as Gov. Andrew Cuomo (ridiculously) gloats in New York:
True or False: Florida’s COVID-19 deaths now rival those of New York.
“Equating the conditions in Florida this summer with those that prevailed in New York and the Northeast this past spring is recklessly inaccurate,” Badger writes.
“…as of Aug. 1, Florida’s deaths-per-million population (327) ranked below the U.S. average (475) and well below the rates in New York state (1,685) and the neighboring states of New Jersey (1,790) and Connecticut (1,243).
“Equating the conditions in Florida this summer with those that prevailed in New York and the Northeast this past spring is recklessly inaccurate.”
The list goes on, from comparisons of death rates in the U.S. vs Europe, the value or not of wearing masks, and what percentage of the U.S. population has had the coronavirus (it’s not 20%, as most believe).
Read the article for the quiz, and also for the comments which show, among many other things, that people are pretty fed up with so many orders coming from so many people using anything but good science as a basis for decisions and directives.
Oh, and if you score a perfect 10 on the quiz, Badger says: “If you’re not too attached to your day job, you might want to apply to run the White House coronavirus task force.”
Now that’s good advice.