A Pandemic of Hysteria

When Donald Trump calls the mainstream media "The enemy of the people," he's engaging in hyperbole, but in more than a few instances, he's absolutely correct. One of those instances is recent reporting on the coronavirus (a.k.a. COVID-19). The media becomes "the enemy" when it cherry picks facts, when it purposely refuses to provide context, when its reporting is inaccurate, and most important, when it "catastrophizes" with the intent of spiking viewership or clicks. Take yesterday's New York Times headline, "Coronavirus deaths skyrocket ..." Yep, deaths increased from 2 to 6. All six people were older and had underlying health conditions. In fact, four of the fatalities were in a nursing home which sorta indicated they were struggling long before they contracted the virus,

Media sources breathlessly report that 100 cases (100 cases!!!) of COVID-19 have been reported in the USA. They never seem to note that tens of thousands of cases of common flu are ongoing and that this flu season, thousands of people (mostly old and infirm) have died due to complications associated with common flu.

Charles Crietz reports on an interview with celebrity physician, Drew Pinsky, MD:

"Essentially the entire problem we are having is due to panic, not the virus," he said. "I was saying this six weeks ago. We have six deaths from the coronavirus, 18,000 from the flu. Why isn't the message, 'Get your flu vaccine'"?

Pinsky, host of "Dr. Drew After Dark," said the coronavirus impact has been milder than initially projected.

"The entirety of the problem now is that people are being pushed into bankruptcy. Travel is down. The supply chain is being interrupted because of panic," he reiterated.

He said that people who are wearing respirator masks are engaged in "panic behavior" rather than preventative measures.

"It is a press-induced panic that will have real consequences. It will not be the virus," Pinsky said.

At this point, the only pandemic we're facing is a pandemic of hysteria—media induced, and based on current evidence, grossly overstated. It really has to stop.