A Salesman’s Trick, Ignoring R0, Shaming, Conspiracy, Premature Declaration, Strategic Omission, and Fanciful Fiction

I can’t stop thinking of a recent analysis that estimated over 300,000 Americans might be alive today had all adults been vaccinated. How did we get here?

My previous articles have examined several techniques these COVID minimizers use to mislead their readers. These include:

  • A salesman’s trick:  Using a number that is larger than the COVID death toll to minimize that death toll.
  • Ignoring R0:  Focusing on the infection fatality rate of COVID while ignoring how contagious it is.
  • Shaming: Shaming people who try not to get COVID or who are bothered by its death toll.
  • Conspiracy:  Claiming the COVID death toll can’t be trusted.
  • Premature declaration: Acting as if the pandemic is over.
  • Strategic omission:  Omitting key facts that are needed to understand some aspect of the pandemic.
  • Fanciful fiction: Just making stuff up.

Source: A Salesman’s Trick, Ignoring R0, Shaming, Conspiracy, Premature Declaration, Strategic Omission, and Fanciful Fiction

The origin of SARS-CoV-2, revisited

Since early in the pandemic, scientists have overwhelmingly concluded that the evidence makes a natural origin for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, a far more likely explanation for the pandemic than a laboratory origin. Over the last three weeks or so, however, there has been considerable chatter about the “lab leak” hypothesis, and President Biden even ordered US intelligence agencies to…

Source: The origin of SARS-CoV-2, revisited

Vaccine Effectiveness