Exposing Deception: Small Risk to the Healthy from COVID-19
According to recent polls, 75 percent of Americans worry about their communities re-opening too soon from the corona lockdowns. More than eight in ten say they are likely to stay home if there is a new spike of cases in the area where they live. And by a margin of almost four to one, most Americans believe the U.S. economy is being reopened too quickly rather than too slowly.
These figures indicate that the majority of us believe we are in the midst of a dangerous epidemic. The levels of anxiety and fear have reached such a high pitch that an earlier survey found that many Americans thought that extreme measures – such as complete closure of K-12 schools and most businesses – were justified to mitigate the threat posed by the coronavirus disease.
But is this fear justified? Is this virus really so dangerous that we need to shut down large portions of our society and dramatically curtail our engagement in everyday activities? What is the actual risk of harm and death posed by this pathogen to an ordinary healthy individual?