Don’t Fall for Alabama Doctor’s Wuhan Virus Fear Porn

In order to keep alive the false notion that “systemic racism” is rampant in the United States, leftists across America have peddled massive amounts of misleading information. (The hotly debated “Critical Race Theory” is filled with it.) Thus, it should come as little surprise that the COVID-loving mask cultists on the left would stoop to spinning false or misleading tales about Wuhan Virus doom and gloom in order to help keep as much of the nation as possible on edge.

Dr. Brytney Cobia of Alabama seems to be such a leftist. This past Sunday, Dr. Cobia posted the following on her Facebook page:

(NOTE: DO NOT "visit" Facebook's biased "COVID-19 Information Center for vaccine resources!")

To say the post went “viral” is putting it mildly. Not only was it shared wildly via Facebook, numerous news outlets and left-wing websites ran Dr. Cobia’s account as if it were the gospel truth. This includes The Washington Post, CNN,  NBC News, MSNBC, HuffPost, Newsweek, and the like. It’s almost as if they were just waiting on someone—anyone—to say that, “‘Young healthy people’ are now getting hospitalized and dying from the Wuhan Virus! Quickly, surrender your liberties!”

Of course, this is because as often as the left hypes the Wuhan Virus—along with the vaccine, masks, lockdowns, etc.—they keep getting put in their place by the data. It seems it has become particularly important to the COVID-worshipping left to scare as many as possible when it comes to the young and healthy. Yet the data here are especially troubling for the left’s Wuhan Virus narrative.

For the mask cultists, simply not enough young, healthy Americans are dying from the Wuhan Virus, or even requiring hospitalization. (A recent Johns Hopkins study found zero Wuhan Virus deaths among healthy kids.) Enter Dr. Cobia and her story. However—and again—when one actually looks at the data, her account shouldn’t strike the fear that she, and those like-minded, hopes it will.

The images from CDC charts below show the death totals “involving COVID-19” (note: this does not necessarily mean that a death recorded in this column is from COVID-19) for the state of Alabama:

As you can see, for ages 0-17, in April through July there are zero recorded deaths in Alabama “involving COVID-19.” This is actually the case for February through July of this year. In the 0-17 row for January, there is a blank cell. Again, as one can see, this is common in the chart. According to a note below the chart, “Empty data cells represent counts between 1-9 that have been suppressed in accordance with NCHS confidentiality standards.” So the empty cells represent death totals in the single digits.

What’s more, and again using CDC data, as of July 21, the “7-day Moving” average number of Wuhan Virus deaths (for all ages) in Alabama was 3. On July 18, the day of Dr. Cobia’s post, it was zero. At the end of June it was 3. At the end of May it was 4. At the end of April it was 7. For the U.S. as a whole, as of July 21, the “7-day Moving” average number of Wuhan Virus deaths (for all ages) was 223. At the end of June it was 225. At the end of May it was 413. At the end of April it was 612.

The numbers are similar when one looks at hospitalization rates. Again using CDC data, in Alabama, for ages 0-17, as of July 20, the hospitalization rate was 0.16 per 100,000. At the end of June the rate was 0.09 per 100,000. At the end of May it was 0.11 per 100,000. At the end of April it was 0.16 per 100,000. Likewise, in Alabama, for the age group 18-29, the July down to April numbers (per 100,000) are 0.67, 0.18, 0.31, and 0.33. Even though the latter group has seen an uptick in hospitalization rate in recent month, the July number (0.67) is exactly what it was at the end of March. For the U.S. as a whole, for ages 0-17, the corresponding rates (per 100,000) of hospitalization are 0.14, 0.09, 0.12, and 0.18. For ages 18-29 they are 0.53, 0.30, 0.40, and 0.63.

Thus, the data are again clear: whether or not “cases” are on the rise, whether or not vaccination rates have flattened, the numbers that matter most—hospitalizations and deaths—show no disturbing trend, in Alabama, or the U.S. as a whole. The lockdown, mask-up apologists need to take heed: we will not stand for your (mostly) useless, life-defeating, economic destroying measures again!

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2021, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Again Spreads Wuhan Virus Fake-News Fear Porn

Barely a week after the media in Georgia—and much of the rest of the U.S.—ignored the fact that a Savannah-area seven-year-old boy who supposedly died “from the coronavirus” actually had a seizure and fell in the shower, the largest newspaper in Georgia—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC)—is again helping to perpetrate the false narrative that the Wuhan virus presents widespread danger for American children. 

Early in the afternoon on Saturday, August 15, the AJC had this headline: “15-year-old Gwinnett boy dies of COVID-19.” The first sentence of the piece declared: “A 15-year-old Gwinnett County boy with no underlying conditions [emphasis mine] has died after contracting COVID-19, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.” Having closely followed the science and the data on the Wuhan virus—and knowing well the leftist agenda of the AJC—I was immediately skeptical. 

An internet search revealed that the story was new (few others were reporting it yet). Thus, it seemed likely that all the AJC reporter who authored the story did was find the death info via the Georgia Department of Public Health’s website that counts Wuhan virus deaths in Georgia. On this site, ages of the deceased are listed, along with whether underlying conditions were present. Being apparently eager to scare parents of school-aged children and to further the lockdown narrative, the AJC went with the story and had it plastered at the top of their home page.

I also thought it likely that the AJC’s eagerness to promote the lockdown narrative would come back to bite them. It did. And like I suspected, it didn’t take long. Less than 24 hours after they again went with the child dying “with no underlying conditions” misrepresentation, Atlanta’s WSB radio reported: “A 15-year-old boy in Gwinnett County has died of the coronavirus, according to officials with the Georgia Department of Public Health. The boy, identified only as being Caucasian, was from Gwinnett County. Officials said he did have an underlying medical condition [emphasis mine].”

Of course the fact that the boy died “with an underlying condition” also makes it likely that he died with the coronavirus instead of dying “of the coronavirus.” Proving again the proverb that a lie makes it halfway around the world before the truth can get its pants on, much of the drive-by media were quick to run with the AJC’s false account of the Gwinnett County boy’s tragic death. 

The first two sentences of an AP story on the incident stated: “A 15-year-old boy in metro Atlanta has died from complications caused by COVID-19, making him the second-youngest individual to die from the virus in Georgia, according to state health officials. The Georgia Department of Public Health said the Gwinnett County teenager had no underlying conditions, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Saturday.” 

Since the AJC got it wrong, and these reports are likely to change or disappear, I provide you with screenshots: 

U.S. News & World Report repeated the AP’s account:  

The Times Union, an Albany, New York paper, also repeated the AP’s account:

Sadly, even my local media—housed in one of the most conservative areas of the U.S.—ran with the AP story:

The Daily Beast was quick to get in on the deceit, running their story on the same day as the AJC. A piece entitled “15-Year-Old Boy Dies of COVID in Georgia,” begins: “A 15-year-old boy has become one of Georgia’s latest coronavirus fatalities, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported on Saturday. The teen is the second-youngest person to succumb to the virus in the state and had no underlying health conditions.” 

There was also a Reddit thread on the incident. The self-described “front page of the internet” directly quoted from—and had the link to—the AJC story:

Whether or not they took their cues from the AJC, local TV also got in on the act. Atlanta’s CBS 46 reported, “A 15-year-old boy in Gwinnett County has become metro Atlanta’s youngest victim of COVID-19. The teen is the second youngest in the state of Georgia to die from the virus, and is reported as having no underlying medical conditions.” 

Notice that, whether or not a deceased individual has underlying conditions, if they have a positive Wuhan virus test (before or after death), they always seem to have died of the Wuhan virus. 

Interestingly, not long after WSB radio gave a more accurate account of the boy’s death, the AJC “updated” their story. (As of this writing, most other media reporting on this tragic incident have yet to do such.) Notice at the previous link that, though this account contains the “original story,” the first sentence of the “original story” has been edited, and the “with no underlying conditions” phrase removed. 

So again we see, the drive-by media is eagerly invested in keeping the lockdown narrative alive, and shamefully, are willing to use the deaths of children—thus scaring children and their parents alike—to do so. 

(See this column at American Thinker.) 

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com