Fault-filled coronavirus models needs to be discarded

Many states assume that anyone with a positive coronavirus test has died from the disease, no matter what their actual cause of death. As the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health explained in April, “If you were in hospice and had already been given a few weeks to live, and then you were also found to have COVID, that would be counted as a COVID death. It means technically even if you died of a clear alternate cause, but you had COVID at the same time, it’s still listed as a COVID death.” That revelation is found in Alex Berenson’s “Unreported Truths About COVID-19 and Lockdowns.”

Worse, “Washington state reported on May 21 it had included five people who had died of gunshots in its total of roughly 1,000 coronavirus deaths.” The growing doubt about the reporting of cases, hospitalizations and deaths is casting a shadow about the honesty of national and local leaders and reporters.

It begins with the misunderstood word “cases.” A “case” of coronavirus refers only to a positive test result showing someone has been infected. It does not mean that a person will become sick — much less that he or she will be hospitalized, need intensive care, or die. Thus discussing the age distribution of infections, while technically not untruthful, is extremely misleading.”

The fault-filled models of Neil Ferguson and the University of Washington should be discarded. Mr. Berenson provides better and deeper insight to the real science.

JEREMY CONLIN

Cocolalla