Opinion

Letter: Media should calm down and focus on the right COVID-19 numbers

Posted December 27, 2021 12:00 am

To the Daily Herald editor:

It has been suggested that at its current pace and high rate of transmission, the Omicron variant could potentially infect every person on the planet.

It has also been suggested that the resultant symptoms, hospitalizations and death rate will be infinitesimal compared with what we have experienced with the original virus strain and the Delta variant.

So why then is the media fixated on "new cases" and "positivity rates?" The numbers to be concerned with are hospitalizations (remember"flatten the curve"?) and deaths.

While I am sensitive to current events and the suffering that this virus has caused for (literally) millions of people, I just wish the media would focus on numbers that matter and quit with the fear mongering and panic peddling!

Martin Dettmer

Wheaton

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