Today’s papers were full of the fact that yesterday Trump posted on Facebook and Twitter claiming that COVID-19 was “far less lethal in most populations” than the flu.
Both platforms stated that the post was misleading, but while Facebook therefore took it down, Twitter added a message explaining how the tweet violated its rules and simply made the post harder to find – arguing that keeping it online was in the public interest.
Trump’s controversial post comes as no surprise, as the president violated the same social media rules in August when he posted a video on the same platforms of a Fox News interview in which he stated incorrectly that children are “almost immune” to the virus.
The claim Trump made yesterday is not backed up by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which estimates that during 2019-2020 twenty two thousand people died in the USA of the flu whereas 211,000 US citizens have so far died of COVID.
So that’s the first thing Trump got wrong. Flu and COVID are similar in that those who die of it are mainly old, but the infection fatality rate (IFR) for COVID appears to be much greater. But he also mislead the pubic in another way.
Focussing on deaths distracts from a crucial difference between flu and COVID, which is that while those who survive the flu get better, there is mounting evidence that those who survive COVID often don’t, or at least not for a long time.
And while yes deaths from both affect mainly the old, the complications from getting COVID when you don’t die affect people of all ages, and in all states of health.
Young or old, athletic or not, different immune systems mean that even athletic young adults with no history of illness, drug and/or alcohol abuse have had to battle to stay alive, and have gone on to suffer major health problems.
For example The Guardian reported the sad story of Angela Padula 27, and her fiancé, Dennis Bradt 29, who were infected by COVID back in early April. Bradt died of a COVID-related heart attack on May 13th, and Pedula is still sick, left with pain in her arms legs and back. This is just one of many cases of ‘long COVID’ that you can find online.
Before 2016 Trump knew little about politics. But that didn’t stop this inexperienced politician from getting to the forefront of world politics, and using his position, and Twitter etc. to make crazy pronouncements that many think are a danger to America.
Trump also knows almost nothing about biology or medicine, and yet once again here he is at the forefront of the COVID conversation, only this time his misinformation is a danger to life.
I don’t think what he said should be silenced, because it is in the public interest to know how irresponsible he can be, and how disrespectful he is capable of being towards the families of people who have suffered and continue to suffer from a disease that is very different from the flu.