Source: Selwyn Duke
President Trump never actually said the Wuhan flu was a “hoax,” and it certainly isn’t in the sense that there is a virus officially known as “SARS-CoV-2” circulating among world populations. Yet a large number of observers believe that an aspect of this situation is in the nature of a hoax; that is, the reaction — or, some would say, overreaction — to it.
The mainstream media are certainly having a field day. Wuhan flu worries certainly attract eyeballs, and people forced to stay home will likely spend much time imbibing news about what’s keeping them home, right? Besides, it’s a great opportunity to push political agendas (such as the notion that Trump called the virus a “hoax”).
Yet it “appears that rumors of our demise have been somewhat exaggerated,” writes Ted Noel, M.D. Dr. Noel made this claim when citing statistics from the now-notorious cruise ship Diamond Princess, which was quarantined last month after Wuhan flu infection was detected aboard. Of the 3,711 people on the vessel, 712 (19.2 percent) contracted the disease and eight (1.12 percent) have died.
Note, however, that this vessel has been called a Wuhan flu “incubator” and the average age of those aboard was 58, with 33 percent over 70. This is the high-risk group (elderly Americans) whose members were dying during a four-week stretch in 2018 at “a rate of 169 people a day, or seven people per hour” of the common flu, reported the AARP.
So the issue, of course, isn’t whether the Wuhan flu can be deadly; it certainly can. We also should take the oft-mentioned common-sense precautions, such as embracing better hygiene, practicing “social distancing” when a pandemic is afoot, and staying home when sick if possible.
The question is: Does this flu warrant infringing upon civil liberties, closing schools, creating a panic, and shutting down much of the economy? The last thing is, as I reported Sunday, a “cure” possibly worse than the disease.
This reality has prompted some to suggest that we’re being manipulated. Former congressman Ron Paul, a medical doctor himself, wrote an op-ed entitled “The Coronavirus Hoax”; his assertion is that the current panic is being used by authoritarians to stifle freedom. Then, American Thinker writer Eric Georgatos asks, “If this [overreaction] isn’t a deliberate plot to take down America and every safeguard of American freedom, how would it look different if it were?” Good question.
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