Bottom line: the conspiracies that Covid-19 is not serious started to spread among Republicans, not among Democrats. And they hurt the reelection of President Trump, enormously.
I suspect that the conspiracies were initiated by leftist activists who routinely frequent conservative forums and try to plant misinformation. Usually, they are immediately recognized, but this time, they pulled off a major success.
It is sad, and it does not help Republicans or the conservative cause one bit to believe and spread conspiracies about Covid-19. I have been trying to fight the misinformation for months here, and will continue to do so.
Covid-19 has, so far, infected 29,870,136 and killed 542,995 in the US. This is far more serious than influenza (~22,000 deaths in 2019-2020). In total numbers of deaths, Covid-19 is now the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer. One third of Covid-19 survivors have long-term effects, including reduced lung function, neurological issues, heart problems, and fatigue. I have observed that many people don’t care about the risk of death, but maybe they would care about having disabilities lasting for months, maybe years? I don’t know.
Yes, Covid-19 is actually serious. Yes, you should do whatever you can to avoid catching it.
“Covid-19 has, so far...killed 542,995 in the US.”
Road apples. Here in CO alone substantial numbers of deaths from gunshot wounds have been reported as ‘rona deaths.
It’s impossible to calculate the actual number of deaths with any degree of certitude, but we do know it’s nowhere near half a million.
LOL! You are a ill-informed person, according to this article.
The article tells you 1-5% of COVID-19 sufferers wind up in a hospital bed. From prior admission data, about 20% of those admitted with COVID-19 wind up in an ICU. A reasonable number of those in the ICU make it out alive.
Your numbers are from those who were admitted to the ICU. Go look it up.
“And they hurt the reelection of President Trump, enormously.”
Trump got re-elected in a landslide, so they couldn’t have hurt him much.
You are only off by a factor of 33X - 165X of those admitted to an ICU, to create the stats you believe.
“Attributes and predictors of long COVID”
(Includes those who were hospitalized who used the special app to self report: From 4,182 incident cases of COVID-19, 2.6% reported that any remaining symptom existed at the 12 week mark.)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01292-y
“Sequelae in Adults at 6 Months After COVID-19 Infection”
(Includes hospitalizations and survey recipients self-reported: From 177 cases of COVID-19, about 30% reported that any remaining symptoms existed between 31 and 300 days. This was not statistically relevant, according to authors.)
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2776560