This Isn’t Finance But It Is Important
A fact check from a buisness school student with early signs of male patterned baldness and an appreciation for data and the truths we can derive from it. I have no medical background whatsoever. My only credentials are that i am able to read; which seemed to be enough for this.
One America News released a report from Pearson Sharp on Oct. 27 of this glorious year entitled “CDC Reveals Hospitals Counted Heart Attacks as COVID-19 Deaths.” Even in the post-truth era that 2020 has seemed to usher in, this 3min and 30second report stands head and shoulders above the rest. Here are issues I take with the piece and its dangerous “only 6% of COVID-19 deaths are from COVID” statistic.
0:20–1:10
“COVID-19 is rarely the actual cause of coronavirus patient deaths…87k actually died of pneumonia and influenza…17k died of lower respiratory diseases……26k died of respiratory distress syndrome…44k died from hypertensive diseases…23k died from heart disease…28k died from cardiac arrest and heart failure.”
The presence of these conditions does not negate the presence or harmful effects of the Coronavirus. The reason why these deaths are counted as COVID-19 deaths is because the definition behind what the cause of death is as follows, “…the condition that began the chain of events that ultimately led to the person’s death”
Imagine I guard a window of a house right by Hole #1 of a golf course and catch every ball that those nervous golfers slice its way. If I suddenly have to wear a blindfold when I do this, it is not solely the golf ball that would be the cause of the breakage. Obviously, the golf ball has always been a threat, but it was the blindfold that was the catalyst and condition that began the chain of events the lead to the window breaking.
If a person has the pre-existing golf balls coming at them for their whole life, one cannot simply negate the presence of the blindfold (COVID-19) in determining what caused the breakage of their window.
1:10–1:25
“131k patients who are being considered COVID 19 deaths already had life ending diseases”
Let’s keep with the golf ball example for a second. The above statement claims that for many people, these golf balls are going to break that window eventually. The blindfold doesn’t matter because the inevitable fact was that the window was going to break anyway! Sure, the window always breaks eventually. Nobody has lived for an eternity yet. For some, that is due to natural causes. For others? That is due to life threatening diseases.
But to liken “chronic underlying conditions” to “life ending diseases” is just flat out wrong. Chronic diseases are simply defined as, “conditions that last 1 year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living or both.” Some of these conditions are life threatening but over 60% of adults in the US have a chronic underlying disease. In fact, 40% of adults have two or more of these chronic conditions. This does not mean 60% of Americans have life ending diseases.
1:25–1:34
“10 thousand patients who died of COVID were on hospice care…meaning, they were terminally ill to begin with…and were already expected to die”
I’ll keep this one short. Just because the place of death is listed as “hospice” does not mean they were in a condition where they needed to be on hospice care prior to contracting COVID-19. We cannot confuse the result of the sickness with the cause. This grouping of 10 thousand patients is not made up of 10 thousand prior hospice facility residents. 7.2% of COVID patients that have been hospitalized were sent to hospice for the first time following their discharge from the hospital.
1:45–2:00
There is a 20% premium for Covid-19 patients. That is making doctors falsely classify deaths as COVID. (paraphrased).
This first sentence is true! Huzzah! We got one! Under the CARES act, hospitals receive a 20% premium from the government for Covid-19 Medicare payments. This premium is even granted to those who it was “plausible” had COVID and were treated as such even when tests were not readily available.
What about the second sentence?Attempting to imply that hospitals are coming out on top after all of this is bizarre. Profits for some hospitals haven’t dipped by the billions they were initially expected to, but why are Pearson Sharp and OAN mad about that…? Wasn’t the point of the stimulus to ease the economy through the chaos? It seems as though those employee lay-offs and terrifying earnings estimates in the industry during Q1 of this year would provide the prospective necessary to see the benefit the stimulus has had. However, I guess that was wishful thinking.
2:00–2:40: 1918 Example
I don’t even know what part of the clip to quote for this.
Stating that the 1918 Flu Pandemic is similar to Covid-19 because both have overinflated numbers due to wrongful determination of death is laughably wrong. There were no vaccines against influenza or antibiotics to treat secondary bacterial infections in 1918. The management of chronic conditions did not exist. During 1918, chronic meant life ending.
Pearson Sharp confidently rips apart liberal dufus Anthony Fauci’s 2008 paper by claiming Fauci wrote about 1918 that, “… the vast majority of deaths were caused by bacterial pneumonia.” First of all, pause the video and read Fauci’s words for yourself. What is actually written is, “The 1918 influenza pandemic favors a scenario in which viral damage followed by bacterial pneumonia led to the vast majority of deaths.”
So, Pearson, maybe you are right. Maybe this is similar to 1918. However, it is similar only through the fact that a flu virus causes damage that a bacterial pneumonia capitalizes on. The virus is the blindfold. It is the catalyst and underlying cause that started this chain of events that lead to a death.
3:00
“Mainstream media have completely ignored it. Instead, continuing to hype a pandemic that seems less dangerous every day.”
If by “it” he means this dangerous inability to correctly interpret data coupled with a willingness to spread misinformation, then I am thrilled to hear the majority of the media is ignoring “it.”
I would have understood a phrase like this in April or May. But this kind of speech is no longer acceptable. I know there is an audience for it. I understand providing people with what they want to hear brings in high ratings. But here is the bottom line:
Through July 2020, there were already 164,937 deaths above the number that is typical for the first seven months of the year. Believe what you will about the cause of these deaths. You could keep preaching that it is due to things besides Covid-19. That COVID plays “no part” in many of these. That is fine. But the time of pretending that there is not something seriously wrong going on is over. 164,937 deaths above the average is an issue. It is due to something. It is no longer optimism to believe otherwise; it is a denial of facts.
Cut out the political implications of all of this. Cut out whatever responsibility President Trump may or may not have. Cut out all the noise, the anger, the masks, the quarantines, the division. What do you have left?
230 thousand deaths in the United States. 230 thousand lives that were shorter because of this virus. 230 thousand reasons to shake yourself from the politically motivated narratives. 230 thousand reasons to start listening for truth and not merely listen for confirmation of our own beliefs.
I sure hope the optimists are right. I hope a vaccine can be pumped out this Fall. I know there is a future where we look back on all this with reverence for the deceased, gratitude for those on the front lines, and a newfound awareness of the importance of preparedness.
However, I take the time to write this becuase the longer that stories like this one by Pearson Sharp and OAN continue to be told, the longer we will have to wait for that future.
