MAYBE
MAYBE LIKE ME YOU WOKE UP SUNDAY TO THE PHRASE "ONLY 6-
PERCENT" TRENDING ON
TWITTER.
CURIOUSITY CAUSING
YOU TO CLICK ON IT...AND
THEN ASK YOURSELF...
HAVE ONLY 10-THOUSAND
AMERICANS REALLY DIED
OF COVID-19.
NOT THE MORE THAN
153,000 LISTED ON THE
C-D-C WEBSITE?
THAT'S THE NEW THEORY
TRIGGERED BY DATA
COMING FROM --
WELL...ALSO THE CDC.
THE CDC DATA PUBLISHED
ON COMORBIDITIES, OR
OTHER CONTRIBUTING
FACTORS TO A DEATH,
SHOWS COVID-19 IS
LISTED AS THE ONLY
CAUSE OF DEATH FOR
JUST 6% OF ALL SUPPOSED
COVID DEATHS.
LEADING SOME TO
BELIEVE THAT MEANS 94%
OF REPORTED COVID
DEATHS, WERE NOT
REALLY CAUSED BY COVID,
BUT OTHER HEALTH
CONDITIONS.
TWEETS LIKE THIS SAYING
ONLY 6% OF DEATHS
REPORTED HAVE ACTUALLY
DIED FROM COVID,
FUELED THE SOCIAL MEDIA
FIRE.
PRESIDENT TRUMP RE
TWEETED
TWEETED THIS. THE Q SHOULDA TIPPED YOU OFF.
TWITTER LATER REMOVED
THAT TWEET.
DATA CAN BE MOLDED TO
FIT MANY NARRATIVES,
THE NARRATIVE SOME ARE
PUSHING WITH THIS
STATISTIC IS THAT COVID IS
OVERBLOWN.
SO, WHAT DOES THE DATA
REALLY MEAN? WHAT IS
THE CONTEXT OF IT?
DR. DAVID PATE, WHO IS
ON THE STATE'S COVID-19
TASK FORCE, EXPLAINS IT
TO OUR JOE PARRIS.
#SIXPERCENT CREATED A
FIRESTORM ON SOCIAL
MEDIA
MEDIA OVER THE WEEKEND. IT'S IN REFERENCE TO THIS
CDC DATASET ON COVID
DEATHS. IT DETAILS THE
TYPES OF HEALTH
CONDITIONS AND
CONTRIBUTING CAUSES
MENTIONED IN DEATH
CERTIFICATES INVOLVED
WITH COVID DEATHS. THE
CDC WEBSITE EXPLAINS
THAT "FOR JUST 6% OF
THE DEATHS, COVID-19
WAS THE ONLY CAUSE
MENTIONED."
THOUSANDS ON SOCIAL
MEDIA CLAIMED THAT
MEANT 94% OF COVID
DEATHS
DEATHS WEREN'T ACTUALLY BECAUSE OF THE VIRUS, BUT INSTEAD
FROM OTHER CAUSES.
"FIRST OF ALL IT IS
INCORRECT."
DR. DAVID PATE RETIRED
CEO OF ST. LUKE'S HEALTH,
AND A MEMBER OF THE
STATE'S CORONAVIRUS
TASK FORCE EXPLAINS
OTHER FACTORS LISTED
ON A DEATH CERTIFICATE
ALONG WITH COVID
DOESN'T MEAN IT'S NOT A
COVID
COVID DEATH. "YOU DIED OF PNEUMONIA, OR YOU
DIED OF RESPIRATORY
FAILURE, OR YOU DIED OF
ADULT RESPIRATORY
STRESS SYNDROME, OR
YOU DIED OF A HEART
ATTACK, OR YOU DIED OF
KIDNEY FAILURE, ALL OF
THOSE THINGS WERE
CAUSED BY COVID AND
THE DEATH CERTIFICATE
SHOULD SAY THAT."
SO, WHAT EXACTLY DOES
THIS
THIS DATA
THIS DATA REFLECT? "WHAT THE CDC IS REPORTING IS ALL OF
THOSE CONDITIONS THAT
ARE REPORTED ON THAT
DEATH CERTIFICATE."
DR. PATE SAYS THIS IS NOT
NEW OR SHOCKING DATA,
IT PLAYS INTO WHAT
EXPERTS HAVE SAID SINCE
THE BEGINNING.
"WE KNOW THAT THE
PEOPLE
PEOPLE MOST LIKELY TO DIE OF COVID HAVE UNDERLYING MEDICAL
CONDITIONS."
IN MANY CASES, PATE
SAYS THOSE WITH
UNDERLYING HEALTH ISSUES WOULD HAVE CONTINUED THEIR
NORMAL LIFE FOR YEARS
IF NOT FOR A COVID
INFECTION.
"JUST BECAUSE YOU OR I
HAVE HIGH BLOOD
PRESSURE, WE CAN TAKE
CARE OF THAT AND YOU
CAN LIVE FOR A LONG
TIME. IT IS A RISK FACTOR,
IF WE CATCH COVID, FOR
HAVING A MORE SEVERE
ILLNESS. SO IT WOULD
STILL BE COVID THAT
KILLED US EVEN THOUGH
WE MIGHT HAVE HIGH
BLOOD PRESSURE OR
DIABETES OR BE OBESE OR
ANY NUMBER OF OTHER
FACTORS"
A NARRATIVE BEING
PUSHED BY SOME IS
THOSE WITH
COMORBIDITIES ALONG
WITH COVID WOULD HAVE
DIED ANYWAY. TO BE
BLUNT, PATE SAYS
MILLIONS OF AMERICANS
HAVE UNDERLYING
FACTORS LIKE HIGH
BLOOD PRESSURE,
DIABETES, AND OBESITY.
"IT IS VERY CALLOUS TO
DISMISS THE DEATHS AS,
WELL THAT WAS
SOMEBODY WHO WAS
OLD OR THAT IS
SOMEBODY WHO HAD AN
UNDERLYING MEDIAL
CONDITION. THAT
DESCRIBES A LOT OF OUR
POPULATION."
BECAUSE OF THE
NARRATIVE BEHIND THE
CDC DATA, PATE SAYS TO
HIM A CONCERNING PIECE
OF DATA ISN'T BEING
TALKED ABOUT. YES, 6% OF
COVID DEATHS HAD NO
UNDERLYING HEALTH
ISSUES, THOSE ARE PEOPLE
WHO WERE EXPECTED TO
HAVE AN EASIER TIME
WITH THE VIRUS. AGAIN,
FROM THE BEGINNING
MEDICAL EXPERTS
WARNED OF A HIGHER
DEATH TOLL FOR THOSE
WITH CERTAIN FACTORS.
FROM A PUBLIC HEALTH
STANDPOINT, SOCIAL
MEDIA IN 2020 HAS
COMPLICATED THINGS
LIKE FIGHTING A
PANDEMIC COMPARED TO
DECADES AGO.
"ALL THE CONSPIRACY
THEORIES THAT BEFORE
HAD TO SPREAD BY WORD
OF MOUTH BUT NOW CAN
SPREAD OVER THE
INTERNET IN MINUTES."
CDC
CDC SAYS
CDC SAYS 12-THOUSAND AMERICAN DIED OF H1N1 IN 2009
IN 2009