Bias Reporting on COVID and the Vaccine Paradox

One of many discussion topics about COVID is the apparent rise in new cases across several states. The data is accurate, but the reporting is biased. Another case of fake news.

Since the media represents the liberal establishment, they would like to make the situation look worse than it is, so they can criticize early red state openings. If they can make that narrative stick, it could hurt the Republicans in the fall elections.

Here are the current charts for Florida and Georgia. Florida cases are rising; Georgia cases are level to decreasing slowly. Deaths are dramatically lower in both states.

The obvious bias lies in what is not reported rather than what is reported. From the very beginning, the CDC has warned us that as testing becomes universally available, the number of cases will go up. That fact is obvious because if you test more people, you’ll find more cases of the disease. Asymptomatic cases won’t be identified unless widescale testing is done.

The second bias is not describing the new case characteristics. What is the age of these new patients? Old or young? Who cares if the new cases are asymptomatic people? Yes, those people now have to be careful they don’t infect others, but they certainly don’t represent a scary new trend. Our medical profession has done a good job of identifying the high-risk population. As long as those people are protected, the disease will come under our control.

As the data stands right now, if you are under 65, the risk of dying from COVID is about equal to that of being killed in a car accident on the way to work. Not a big deal.

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The COVID vaccine discussion is also interesting. As we all know, there has been a universal desire across our country to get a vaccine for COVID as quickly as possible. Some governors have made public statements that their states will not be open until the vaccine is readily available.

Lo and behold a new poll comes out, which shows that Americans are indifferent to receiving a new vaccine. Only 49% said they planned to get the shot. A large majority of older people plan to get the vaccine; younger people less so. Looking inside the numbers shows that 62% of Democrats will get the shot, but only 43% of Republicans will. A profile of those interested in a vaccination is a pretty close match to the same polls about the Flu. In others words, people have decided COVID is no worse than the Flu.

This public indifference throws a wrench into the control narrative of the Left about how the disease needs to play out. Ultimately, we have to have herd spread to control the disease, so getting there faster may not be a bad thing.