Exactly Two months ago, on March 17, 2020, we reported on the controversial Ethiopian politician and Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who claimed in a press conference in early March that the fatality rate for the coronavirus was 3.4% — many multiples that of the fatality rate of the common flu which is estimated to be around 0.1%.
This egregiously false premise led to the greatest global panic in world history.
The Director General of the WHO spoke on March 3, 2020 and shared this related to the coronavirus:
While many people globally have built up immunity to seasonal flu strains, COVID-19 is a new virus to which no one has immunity. That means more people are susceptible to infection, and some will suffer severe disease.
Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected.
Here is the video of Dr. Ghebreyesus’s remarks.
The Gateway Pundit was first to report that the WHO leader’s coronavirus death rate number of 3.4% was false.
It was not accurate! Here is a summary of what we reported:
The Gateway Pundit reported, that the coronavirus fatality rate reported by the liberal mainstream media was completely inaccurate and the actual rate more like a typical seasonal flu – the media was lying again. The false reporting of the coronavirus fatality rate at 3.4% in the media started with the statements made by the WHO in early March.
Here’s a summary of our analysis proving the Director General’s statement was very misleading and materially false:
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1. The fatality rate of the coronavirus as presented by the WHO was based on current data available of known positive cases and known deaths.
Oftentimes estimates have to be made because data is just not yet available. The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, used the fatality rate of known coronavirus cases and used this as his prediction of eventual mortality rate. This was a faulty assumption. Estimates usually involve obtaining information that is available and making estimates on what is not. We cannot tell the future but we can make educated guesses based on information available. This is what was done with the coronavirus because this exact virus was new to scientists.
2. Sometimes estimates are reasonable and sometimes they are wrong, and even way off.
The point is that whenever estimates are made of large unknown values they are always wrong because no one can tell the future. Sometimes estimates end up close and sometimes they are not and sometimes they are way off.
3. The current “estimate” for the coronavirus fatality rate (back on March 17) according to the WHO was 3.4%.
The estimate used most often is from the WHO based on the Director General’s comments. The WHO estimates the mortality rate of the coronavirus to be around 3.4%.
4. The “estimated” rate for this year’s seasonal flu is 0.1%.
As The Gateway Pundit reported earlier, according to CDC numbers, in the US in the 2019-2020 flu season, there were 222,552 confirmed cases of the flu from testing and an estimated 36 million flu cases in the United States. There were 22,000 estimated deaths from the flu (via the CDC).
Note that the number of deaths and confirmed cases (through testing) of the flu in the US are based on actual data. The number of individuals who contracted the flu is an estimate. There is no way to know who had the flu in the US because many cases are not severe and people do not have a test done to confirm they had the flu. They believe their symptoms are minor and go on with their normal lives thinking they had a cold or something similar. Because of this, the CDC estimates and they estimated 36 million people had the flu in this past flu season.
The rate of the number of individuals who died from the flu to the number of individuals who were estimated to have had the flu is 0.1% (22,552 / 36 million). This is an estimate and the amount used above by the Director General of the WHO.
However, comparing the rate of individuals who died from the flu to the number of individuals who were confirmed to have had the flu is around 10% (22,000/ 222,552). This is based on actual data similar to the rate for the coronavirus above.
5. The actual results from testing and confirmed deaths for the coronavirus (Back on March 17) was lower than the flu.
Based on the above numbers, the actual fatality rate for those who were confirmed to have had the coronavirus back in March was 3.4%.
The actual mortality rates for those who were confirmed to have had the flu are around 10%. The estimated number was 0.1%.
6. Estimates between the flu and the coronavirus by the WHO did not compare ‘apples to apples’.
The fatality rate that is commonly referred to in the media for the coronavirus back in March was 3.4% from the WHO. This number was based on confirmed cases of people with the coronavirus.
The flu fatality rate provided by the CDC of 0.1% includes estimated number of individuals who had the flu (36,000,000). This rate includes an estimate of all the people who contracted the flu, most who were not tested for the flu.
The fatality rate for the coronavirus does not include those who had the coronavirus but were not sick enough to seek medical attention. This is why the flu fatality rate is 0.1% and the coronavirus fatality rate is 3.4%!
The two rates are like comparing apples to oranges. By doing so the coronavirus fatality rate is overstated when compared to the flu. The WHO and liberal media created a worldwide crisis and panic by falsely comparing the two numbers!
7. Those most at risk from the coronavirus are the elderly and sick (similar to the flu).
Similar to the flu, those most at risk of dying from the coronavirus are the elderly and the sick. The average age for those who died from the coronavirus in Italy is 81 years old. This is consistent around the world. Those under age 10 were rarely affected by this virus.
The sick and those with co-morbidities are also at a higher risk similar to the flu. Current data shows that if you have no pre-existing conditions, your fatality rate if you contract the coronavirus is .9% and that includes the elderly.
