Name: COVID-19 alarmism is working, new polls show. That’s a huge problem
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COVID-19 alarmism is working, new polls show. That’s a huge problem

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More than in COVID-19-related deaths. So, of course, the coronavirus is undoubtedly a serious and life-threatening disease, at least for vulnerable groups such as the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.But people wildly overestimate the actual risks posed by COVID-19, according to that show the stunning extent to which the public has internalized alarmist misinformation.A out this week reveals that young people aged 18 to 24 are the subgroup most anxious about resuming normal social life — despite being by far the least at risk from COVID-19. Indeed, the for members of this age group is approximately 0.006% — a tiny fraction of a percentage. Meanwhile, folks over age 55 are the least worried about resuming social life, even though, statistically speaking, they have the most to fear from the coronavirus.The level of comfort is inversely correlated to the level of risk. — Noam Blum (@neontaster)These stunning survey results reveal a public that remains woefully misinformed about the dangers posed by the coronavirus more than a year into the pandemic. And, unfortunately, the YouGov survey is by no means an outlier.A Gallup similarly found that Americans the likelihood that a COVID patient will require hospitalization. The correct answer is somewhere between 1% and 5%, the survey says, but fewer than 20% of people gave this response. Meanwhile, 1 in 3 respondents overestimated the risk of hospitalization by a factor of 10.“The U.S. public is deeply misinformed about the severity of the virus for the average infected person,” the poll’s authors .~60% of Americans think the chances somebody with Covid must be hospitalized are ~10x higher than they actually areSurvey by Gallup and Franklin Templeton — Eli Klein (@TheEliKlein)How did the public wind up so woefully misinformed? Well, the inescapable conclusion is that alarmist media coverage and irresponsible doomsday rhetoric from government officials are at least partially to blame.As Jon Miltimore has , research shows that much of the American media has exaggerated the threat of COVID-19 and overemphasized negative developments over positive.Ivy League researchers from Dartmouth College and Brown University reviewing pandemic coverage that concluded U.S. media in particular skewed negatively compared to international media and scientific publications.“Ninety one percent of stories by U.S. major media outlets are negative in tone versus fifty four percent for non-U.S. major sources and sixty five percent for scientific journals,” they found.Sure, a pandemic is inherently negative, but the American media’s skew went beyond what was justified by the facts.“The negativity of the U.S. major media is notable even in areas with positive scientific developments including school re-openings and vaccine trials,” the paper . “Stories of increasing COVID-19 cases outnumber stories of decreasing cases by a factor of 5.5 even during periods when new cases are declining.”In a particularly acute example, I’ll never forget the Atlantic blasting Georgia’s unwinding of lockdown measures as an “experiment in human sacrifice.” Georgia, for reference, now than New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, and some other harsh lockdown states for COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 residents.Similarly, when Texas rolled back its lockdown restrictions and mask mandates more than three weeks ago, it was as “killing the people of Texas” and signing “a death warrant for Texans.” Now, the state is .Meanwhile, the alarmist media coverage continues, and Centers for Disease Control Director Rochelle Walensky is despite the U.S. hitting 3 million vaccinations a day. Is it any wonder Americans are so misinformed?Still, some might wonder why this matters. Isn’t it better to be safe than sorry?But the truth is that when it comes to vital public policy questions such as how to handle a pandemic (school closures, economic lockdowns, vaccine passports, and more), there are no easy answers or win-win solutions. Sound policymaking and individual decision-making amid complex crises are all a question of trade-offs. These trade-offs are , with pandemic restrictions leading to economic disaster, mental health crises, increased drug overdoses, upticks in domestic abuse, and more.The public can’t make sound judgment calls on pandemic policy if it vastly overestimates the threats and costs associated with the coronavirus. And that’s why COVID alarmism is a serious ailment in its own right.Brad Polumbo () is a Washington Examiner contributor and host of the .

More than in COVID-19-related deaths. So, of course, the coronavirus is undoubtedly a serious and life-threatening disease, at least for vulnerable groups such as the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.But people wildly overestimate the actual risks posed by COVID-19, according to that show the stunning extent to which the public has internalized alarmist misinformation.A out this week reveals that young people aged 18 to 24 are the subgroup most anxious about resuming normal social life — despite being by far the least at risk from COVID-19. Indeed, the for members of this...

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Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is a libertarian-conservative journalist and the Eugene S. Thorpe Writing Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education. He was previously a Media and Journalism Fellow at the Washington Examiner and an editor at the libertarian media nonprofit Young Voices. His work has appeared in outlets such as USA Today, National Review, the Daily Beast, and the Boston Globe, and he has also appeared on Fox News and Fox Business.

Brad Polumbo

The Washington Examiner is an American conservative news website and weekly magazine based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, which is owned by Philip Anschutz. From 2005 to mid-2013, the Examiner published a daily tabloid-sized newspaper, distributed throughout the Washington, D.C., metro area. The newspaper focused on local news and political commentary. The local newspaper ceased publication on June 14, 2013, whereupon its content began to focus almost exclusively on national politics, switching its print edition from a daily newspaper to a weekly magazine format.

COVID-19 alarmism is working, new polls show. That’s a huge problem

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