Earlier this week, President Trump was attacked after he told Sean Hannity that it was his “hunch” that after talking to experts the thought the World Health Organization’s mortality rate of 3.4% was too high:
In this clip, Trump:
1. Denies WHO's coronavirus death rate based on “hunch"
2. Calls coronavirus "corona flu"
3. Suggests it's fine for people w/ Covid-19 to go to work
4. Compares coronavirus to "the regular flu," indicating he doesn't get the difference pic.twitter.com/uC9c03zX31— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 5, 2020
And then the experts weighed in an agreed with the president:
Coronavirus mortality rate likely to drop, health experts say https://t.co/wPgrCpDnJq pic.twitter.com/mbJGtOuCiQ
— The Hill (@thehill) March 6, 2020
The Hill is quoting researchers at Johns Hopkins. Is that good enough?
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Researchers from Johns Hopkins say mild cases of coronavirus are likely unaccounted for, resulting in a skewed mortality rate for the outbreak. They say the death rate will likely drop. https://t.co/szP9PU8PMo
— Captivate (@Captivate) March 6, 2020
From The Hill:
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) made a startling pronouncement this week when he estimated the global mortality rate of the coronavirus to be 3.4 percent — much higher than the seasonal flu.
Experts warn that the figure from WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus comes full of caveats and is likely to change as more people get tested and undergo treatment for the virus.
“I think it’s lower because we are missing mild cases,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “We should be preparing for [the worst] cases, it’s true, but also going out to see what the real number is.”
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