Lies, Damned Lies, and COVID-19 Statistics

Lies, Damned Lies, and COVID-19 Statistics
Brian4Liberty - July 20, 2020

Everyday, the media floods the public with fear inducing statistics on the number of "new" cases of COVID-19. There is usually a graph to accompany the story. Politicians will claim that they follow the facts and science. There is nothing scientific about their use of statistics.

For a statistics to be followed over time, compared to past results, and graphed, there is one hard scientific and statistical rule that must be followed. The criteria and methodology for collecting those statistics must remain the same over time. That rule has not been followed.

For example, imagine an effort to count stray cats in the US. The first week, one person in each state is sent out to verify and count a cat when a person calls to report a stray cat. The second week, there are three people counting cats in each state. The next month, there are 10 people in each state chasing down cats to count. Sometimes, they check to see if the cat has an owner and they don't count it. Sometimes, they don't check for an owner and just count it anyway.

Over time, the criteria changes constantly as to what constitutes a stray cat. After 6 months, there are 10,000 people in every state, running around counting cats. They go in backyards, they go into homes. They count every cat they find, some cats get counted more than once. Probable stray cats are now counted. Might be a small dog, a possum or an armadillo, but it stills counts.

Now graph the number of "stray cats" over time. The resulting graph should be obvious. A massive increase in stray cats over time.

No one can dispute the fact that the methodology and criteria for COVID-19 statistics have changed many times during the pandemic. To make matter worse, they are not consistent from one county to the next, one state to the next, or one nation to the next.

What counts as a "new" case or a death from COVID-19 has been controversial right from the start. A recent episode of a person who died in a motorcycle accident but was counted as a COVID-19 death is but one sad example.

Never before has this number of people been tested for a disease, especially testing people with no symptoms. This is unprecedented, and the result is statistics that can not be compared to any other disease. The statistics and graphs currently being used to "track" new cases of COVID-19 over time are scientifically invalid.

If the goal is to follow the science, then it is a failure. If the goal is to sow fear as part of a political agenda, then it has been very successful.

Big Holes in the Covid 'Spike' Narrative
Written by Ron Paul - Monday July 20, 2020

Motorcycle accidents ruled Covid deaths? In the rush to paint Florida as the epicenter of the “second wave” of the coronavirus outbreak, government officials and their allies in the mainstream media have stooped to ridiculous depths to maximize the death count. A television station this weekend looked into two highly unusual Covid deaths among victims in their 20s, and when they asked about co-morbidities they were told one victim had none, because his Covid death came in the form of a fatal motorcycle accident.

Sadly, this is not an isolated incident. In fact the “spike” that has dominated the mainstream for the last couple of weeks is full of examples of such trickery.

Washington state last week revised its Covid death numbers downward when it was revealed that anyone who passed away for any reason whatsoever who also had coronavirus was listed as a “Covid-19 death” even if the cause of death had nothing to do with Covid-19.

In South Carolina, the state health agency admitted that the “spike” in Covid deaths was only the result of delayed reporting of suspected Covid deaths.

An analysis of reported daily Covid deaths last week compared to actual day-of-death in Houston revealed that the recent “spike” consisted largely of deaths that occurred in April through June. Why delay reporting until now?

We do know that based on this “spike” the Democrat mayor of Houston cancelled the convention of the Texas Republican Party. Mission accomplished?

Doesn’t it seem suspicious that so many states have experienced “delayed” reporting of deaths until Fauci and his gang of “experts” announced that we are in a new nightmare scenario?

Last week in Florida – which is perhaps not coincidentally the location of the Republican Party’s national convention – another scandal emerged when hundreds of Covid test centers reported 100 percent positive results. Obviously this would paint a far grimmer picture of the resurgence of the virus. Orlando Health, for example, reported a positivity rate of 98 percent – a shocking level – but a further investigation revealed a true positivity rate of only 9.4 percent. Those “anomalies” were repeated throughout the state.

“Cases” once meant individuals who displayed sufficient symptoms to be treated in medical facilities. But when the scaremongers needed a “second wave” they began reporting any positive test result as a “Covid case.” No wonder we have a “spike.”

Politics demands that politicians be seen doing “something” rather than nothing, even if that something is more harmful than doing nothing at all. That is why Washington is so addicted to sanctions.

The same has been true especially in Republican-controlled states in the US in response to the coronavirus. Faced with a virus that has killed about one-third as many people as the normal, seasonal flu virus in 2018, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has endorsed a partial shutdown of the economy resulting in millions tossed into the despair of unemployment. Then he arbitrarily shut down bars because massively increased testing showed more people have been exposed to the virus. And he mandated that people wear face masks. Neither shutting down bars (instead of restaurants or Walmarts) nor forcing people to wear masks will have any effect on the progression of the virus through society. But at least he looks like he’s doing “something.”

We are facing the greatest assault on our civil liberties in our lifetimes. The virus is real, but the government reaction is political and totalitarian. As it falls apart, will more Americans start fighting for their liberty?
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Tom woods says there are about 9000 deaths under 50 years old in USA.

Hard to justify a shutdown with that.

I have been appalled to witness the number of people whom I have known for between 25 and 45 years and whose intellects I have always respected who have bought into the Covid baloney, hook line and sinker. I cannot even believe it, yet there they are.