A moral panic is, by definition, a mass media created hysteria. It occurs when there is a problem that is blown way out of proportion and treated as a catastrophic event.
When you hear the COVID numbers spouted every day, they are quite large. Cases and deaths are increasing. I do not mean to belittle the deaths of 250,000 Americans, but the coverage makes it seem like 25,000,000 have died.
Look at the data for the estimated infection fatality rates (IFR) from the CDC I am presenting here:
In the most at-risk age category, nearly 95% of those who have the Coronavirus survive. Most of those who have died likely had another condition, or co-morbidity, like heart disease, diabetes, etc.
My age bracket, and likely yours if you’re reading this, shows a 99.98% percent IFR.
The big media companies will not show you this.
They are manipulating the statistics as well.
This is done by not providing context, which I have just done. They show you the largest, scariest numbers – cases and deaths. They don’t explain why the numbers are what they are. They don’t explain how these numbers compare to other causes of death.
655,000 die of heart disease each year.
599,000 of cancer:
167,000 die of unintentional injuries.
More than 480,000 Americans die of complications directly related to cigarette smoking.
That means, at the moment, twice as many people die from cigarettes than COVID.
There will likely be FEWER overall deaths in the country this year, because there are fewer car accidents, fewer drunk drivers, fewer secondhand smoking victims, and fewer deaths from other illnesses not being contracted because people aren’t gathering in public as much.
Did you know this? Are you seeing this on the news or hearing it from your favorite politicians?
COVID is real. It can be lethal. It appears that those who have it can suffer quite greatly. However, I hope this provides some perspective.
It is NOT as deadly as we are being led to believe. It is NOT worth shutting down the economy over. It is NOT worth our freedoms, our friendships, and our families.
It IS worth fighting lockdowns and other excessive restrictions to preserve those things.
Stay safe, but stay informed – and not by the perpetrators on the greatest moral panic in our nation’s history.
Simmons' Opinions 