[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Lordstan

I am kind split on the topic, tbh.

I know how serious the disease is and how many it has killed, but I also think the politicization of this has definitely created some misconceptions about the true reality. I read that there was a poll taken where 70% of those self identifying as Democrats stated there was greater than a 50% chance of being admitted with Covid. The Republican number was closer to 50% of people thought the risk was over 50%. We know the true number is 1-5%.

On the other side, we have lots of people who think that the hospitals have been exaggerating the death numbers by manipulating death certificates. This is a significant oversimplification as most people do not understand how doctors(not hospitals I might add) complete official Death Certificates. For example, Let's say someone has Heart Failure that is stable, and then gets COVID. The COVID causes the person's overall health to be compromised and the Heart Failure worsens. Now, if that person dies from the Heart Failure, the correct way to complete the Death Cert is put Heart Failure as the first cause of death, but also to add COVID as part of the cause as well.The rationale is that if the person did not get COVID, their Heart Failure may not have worsened and caused the death at that time.

It's understanding examples like these that show how the news media and politicians, on both sides, have really failed the American people in explaining the full story.

In a way, this illness has been both minimized and overblown at the same time. Only in America, could we pull of such an amazing feat!

Exactly. It's not binary. The virus can certainly be the straw, or brick, that breaks the camel's back, even if the camel had a weak back to begin with. That does nothing in my mind to minimize the role of the virus in that death.

And agree about the politicization, on both sides.