Again to show that we are often fed narratives in order to get us to do things. Here's
an article on the flu.
The 25,000 to 69,000 numbers that Trump cited do not represent counted flu deaths per year; they are estimates that the CDC produces by multiplying the number of flu death counts reported by various coefficients produced through complicated algorithms. These coefficients are based on assumptions of how many cases, hospitalizations, and deaths they believe went unreported. In the last six flu seasons, the CDC’s reported number of actual confirmed flu deaths—that is, counting flu deaths the way we are currently counting deaths from the coronavirus—has ranged from 3,448 to 15,620, which far lower than the numbers commonly repeated by public officials and even public health experts.
So, Trump is wrong because the CDC presented incorrect information. Say who should we hold responsible for that? Anyway...
There is some logic behind the CDC’s methods. There are, of course, some flu deaths that are missed, because not everyone who contracts the flu gets a flu test. But there are little data to support the CDC’s assumption that the number of people who die of flu each year is on average six times greater than the number of flu deaths that are actually confirmed. In fact, in the fine print, the CDC’s flu numbers also include pneumonia deaths.
Oh so the CDC has been "misrepresenting" the data for some time now. Ok then.
The CDC should immediately change how it reports flu deaths. While in the past it was justifiable to err on the side of substantially overestimating flu deaths, in order to encourage vaccination and good hygiene, at this point the CDC’s reporting about flu deaths is dangerously misleading the public and even public officials about the comparison between these two viruses. If we incorrectly conclude that COVID-19 is “just another flu,” we may retreat from strategies that appear to be working in minimizing the speed of spread of the virus. [My underlines]
Wait, wait and wait. So this guy here is admitting that the CDC used these inflated total to essentially scare the public into getting yearly flu shots when they knew full well that the flu wasn't anywhere near the threat the public was made to believe?
For real though.
So, why should I believe that these same agencies and agents have been telling us the truth right now?
For real though.
This guy basically said that since the lie got people to do something "for their own good" [you know], it as A-OK. But now that there is some new shit out we need to discard with the old lie, tell the truth about it, and [perhaps] start in on a new one?
How about let's not misinform the public, period?
The article ends with:
We now know that Trump was disastrously wrong about the threat that the coronavirus posed to the United States. But his take that the cited numbers of flu deaths were incredible? On that, he was spot-on.
If the only conclusion this guy can come up with after flat out telling us we've been lied to for years [decades] by the CDC is that Trump "was disastrously wrong", I think this guy has a huge "mote in his eye".
