Mortality statistics may paint a skewed picture of the coronavirus pandemic, leaving the impression that relatively few under age 70 are dying of Covid-19, which is the furthest thing from the truth. Here’s my #LIHerald editorial of last week that I wrote to help clear up the confusion:
No doubt, understanding the coronavirus takes work. We hear a seemingly endless stream of arcane reports emanating from an alphabet soup of acronym-laden government agencies, and our heads start spinning. Then along comes a hopeful-sounding research paper, and suddenly many among us breathe a sigh of relief, believing, as President Trump would have us think, that things aren’t really as bad as CNN makes them out to be and we’re “rounding the corner.”
Case in point: A single research paper, published online over the summer by Dr. John Ioannidis, of Stanford University, indicated the Covid-19 death rate for those under age 70 was 0.04 percent, according to the Associated Press. That figure spread rapidly on social media, and many people took it as license to carry on with business as usual.
We see this irrational fearlessness reflected in the “herd immunity” approach to the virus touted by one of Trump’s top advisers, Dr. Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist and a senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank. Atlas, who cited the 0.04 figure in July, has suggested we should let the virus run its course among young people to build “natural immunity.”
We also see it reflected in an assertion by a Herald reader who wrote last week to say the survival rate for those under age 70 was greater than 99 percent. Thus, he appeared to suggest, we should think twice about shutting down again.
Many conservatives across the country latched on to the 0.04 percent figure, and have used it — or, rather, misused it — as evidence to support a push to fully reopen the economy and end what they say are intrusive policies, such as New York’s mask mandate in public spaces. The trouble is, that could lead to tens of thousands of more needless deaths, even among young people.
For the full editorial, click here.
