Jay,
According to the article you cited, “…the share of Americans who are either “somewhat” or “very” concerned about infection has risen steadily since the virus began rapidly spreading in the U.S. in March.”[1]
The 538 poll does NOT “show that most Americans are not really that concerned about the Corona virus.” It shows most really ARE concerned.
No fake news here.
-Jeff
Footnotes
Thomas,
Let me see now. Early reporting was non-existent.[1]
“Beijing’s secretive early handling of the coronavirus epidemic has troubling similarities to its missteps in containing African swine fever, but with the far higher stakes of a human infection. After the coronavirus was found in December 2019 in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, local and national officials were slow to sound the alarm and take actions disease experts say are needed to contain deadly outbreaks. Beijing continues to gag negative news and online postings about the disease, along with criticism of the government’s response.”[2] (Sounds a lot like #Trump Happy Talk’s strategy of not testing for fear of revealing bad news to me!)
China’s early PR efforts to deny the significance of Covid were so damaging to human health worldwide that Missouri “has filed a lawsuit against China alleging that Beijing's actions to suppress information, arrest whistleblowers and denying the contagious nature of the novel coronavirus led to "irreparable damage" to countries globally while causing human suffering and severe economic disruption.”[3]
“Chinese officials have consistently tried to conceal the extent of the problem, not only from outside observers but from their own citizens.”[4]
Now that the “cat is out of the bag”[5] Chinese authorities are still obscuring the origins of the disease. Can we absolutely trust Chinese reports at all? “China’s government has a long history of manipulating data for political gain.”[6]
For these reasons, Thomas, the answer to your question is a resounding No. Before you take the Chinese reports at their word, check to see if they have parallels with other countries’ experience. Statistics appearing to show unique Chinese experience with the virus are suspect and should be carefully scrutinized.[7]
Footnotes
Answer requested by Thomas Fugate
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