My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. – Prophet Hosea (710 BC)
The financial firm, Franklin Templeton, has teamed up with Gallup to determine people’s behavioral responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their hypothesis: What people know and don’t know about the pandemic will play a crucial role in shaping the economic recovery.Maybe you’d like to participate in part of the survey. If so, write down your answer to three of the questions based on what you know about the COVID-19 pandemic. Here you go: What percentage of total COVID deaths have occurred among Americans…
(1) …age 55 or older?
(2) …age 44 and younger?
(3) …age 24 and younger?
COVID-19 Risk: Survey Results
Now, let’s compare your answers to the actual COVID-19 mortality statistics from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), as of July 22, 2020. First, in order to make you feel better in case your answers are far from the actual percentages, here is part of the conclusion made by authors of the “Franklin Templeton–Gallup Economics of Recovery Study:”
These results are nothing short of stunning. Six months into this pandemic, Americans still dramatically misunderstand the risk of dying from COVID-19.
Maybe you will be "stunned" as well. To compare your responses with the responses of Americans included in the survey when the three questions were asked, here are the results:
Based on this sampling
from the survey, can you see the stunning discrepancy between perceived health
threat of COVID-19 and reality?
Amazingly, in spite of Americans having access the best health care
system in the world and excellent access to information at our fingertips, we
demonstrate a stunning misunderstanding of the risk of death from COVID-19.
As the table below suggests, Americans 65 and older are much more aware of the heightened risk for their own age group. On the other hand, the younger the age group polled the more misled Americans are about their risk of negative health consequences from the virus. Shockingly, school- and college-age young people (age 24 and younger) overestimated the danger of COVID-19 by a factor of 40!!
Fear and anger are the most reliable drivers of engagement; scary tales of young victims of the pandemic, intimating that we are all at risk of dying, quickly go viral; so do stories that blame everything on your political adversaries. Both social and traditional media have been churning out both types of narratives in order to generate more clicks and increase their audience.
Media and Partisanship Blamed
The more access we have to information about risks to our health and well being the greater the likelihood that we will make decisions that favor our safety and minimize our fears. If this claim is true and the survey data is accurate, how can Americans make good decisions based on risk to personal health if they misunderstand the risk. The same applies to making good policy decisions on the part of policymakers.
Proof of media involvement in creating a misinformed public is seen in the differences in responses between those who identify as Democrats and those identifying as Republicans. “People who get their information predominantly from social media have the most erroneous and distorted perception of risk. Those who identify as Democrats tend to mistakenly overstate the risk of death from COVID-19 for younger people much more than Republicans.” Most cable news watchers are aware of the vast difference in messaging between CNN or MSNBC and FoxNews.
The Franklin Templeton/Gallup survey predicts that if “…those who can afford it are willing to pay significantly more for extra perceived safety, we might see a significant rise in inflation down the line. Again, misinformation can lead to unwarranted fear which in turn makes a population vulnerable to manipulation in directions that fit partisan priorities and visions for a restructured American government and society.
It is becoming clear that misinformation and resultant unwarranted fear may be the greater threat from the COVID-19 pandemic. Consider the following statement from the survey report:
We Need to Be Informed
Maybe it is time we devote some extra time to becoming accurately informed by doing our own research and making decisions accordingly. At the same time, we who are called to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12: 31) need to deal graciously with those who are more fearful of negative health consequences whether or not their fear is warranted.
Hopefully, readers who look in more detail at the Franklin Templeton and Gallup Survey will be better informed and able to articulate truth to neighbors who are misled or confused. Otherwise, the greater risk may not be COVID-19. Instead, we may experience very dire consequences to our culture and nation from those who seek to use the virus for selfish political motives.
Remember the words from the Prophet Hosea, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4: 6). If you’d like to stay informed as the survey continues to expand over the coming months, you can receive ongoing updates on the project's findings by signing up here.
What Do You Think?
Do you consider yourself well informed about the pandemic? How well did you score on the opening three polling questions? If you’d like to respond to this blog with comments or questions, just use the “Comments” link below, or contact me at silviusj@gmail.com Thank you for reading, and may God honor your efforts to be informed, make good decisions, and inform others as we try to learn how best to respond to the pandemic and the politics surrounding it.
8 comments:
I imagine it's the same in other states, but Governor DeWine's daily COVID-19 reports as well as his state mandates are responsible for a majority of the fear in Ohio. Entire counties, cities, businesses, stores, churches, and schools from Kindergarten thru universities all feel they MUST follow what he mandates.
Added to the fear of the virus itself is the very legitimate fear of being sued if someone catches it (or worse) in your establishment on your watch, knowing that the state government will bring its full legal might against you.
All this causes MANY in the public to still be absolutely convinced all the original worst case scenario projections are facts that cannot and must not be denied - "this is an apocalyptic PANDEMICA the likes of which we've never seen." And anyone who thinks and acts otherwise is a science denier and a horrible, selfish person deserving of verbal and physical attack.
Yes, the misinformation is causing immeasurable harm - suicides, homicides, public and domestic violence, isolation, depression, addictions, economic ruin, etc., etc., etc.. I still remember Governor DeWine telling Ohioans to treat everyone they meet as if they are carrying the virus (which means they are a dangerous threat to your life). That has caused a palpable divisiveness, fear, anger, and even hatred among once civil and gentle people. I wouldn't be surprised if psychiatrists are being overwhelmed even more than medical doctors, nurses, and hospitals.
Thanks for your comments, Ken. I am still stunned at how the current policies, aimed at protecting the relatively few, especially low risk 24 and under's, can be justified when we consider the collateral damage that is resulting as you have so well described. As we who were protected by the "Greatest Generation" who risked their lives in World War II and Korea now bury the last of them, we need to ask ourselves what is worth risking our lives for in an increasingly chaotic and dangerous world if it is not for the nurturing and education of the next generation. Indeed the wrongheaded COVID policies, especially in some states, have already inflated the total number of deaths while we focused on trying to protect everyone and left the vulnerable elderly unprotected.
You might want to give a mortality comparison for those who think “one death is too many”. (e.g. Americans (all ages) almost 7.5 times more likely to die of an injury than from Covid19 per CDC.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm). Maybe we should require everybody to wear bubble wrap?
BTW, I appreciate the clearly stated facts with references including an actual snapshot of the data for those who don’t even want to click on a link to see the info. It’s hard to argue with facts that are spoon-fed to you even using the common, trusted (by the majority) sources
It seems we are thinking along the same lines, Dave. When I get a chance, I want to check with my auto insurance company to obtain their mortality rate estimates by age class for auto fatalities. That would make a nice comparison with the CDC charts. The CDC site you sited is also a rich source for comparison. Thank you.
Thank you. Good point. But, as you know, the abundance of information and quick access to it doesn't seem at least many times, to make us more wise in decision making and policymaking. Including myself in this, I wonder if our culture is becoming more and more like the Jews in Isaiah's day when God sent him to speak to them:
He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ Isaiah 6:9
Post a Comment