Unraveling China's COVID Origins Deception

• FBI director confirms lab leak responsible for spreading deadly Coronavirus
• China has rebuffed an open and honest probe of the origins of the virus
• Inspector General report exposes NIH lax oversight of Wuhan lab research 
• Dr. Anthony Fauci owes a full explanation for grants to Wuhan facility

The pandemic ushered in unprecedented censorship of opinions about Coronavirus origins. No one was allowed to question the official government version that the deadly virus spread from animals to humans. Now there are growing questions about the hypothesis and its leading advocate Dr. Anthony Fauci.

It is about time for a thorough investigation after the virus ravaged the globe, killing 6.87 million people, including 1.1 million Americans.

Conventional wisdom about the virus recently was upended by The Wall Street Journal, citing a classified report by the Energy Department. The document expressed the viewpoint that the virus likely leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.   

Defensive administration officials were quick to point out the Energy Department's assessment was made with "low confidence." National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan rushed to the microphones to assure there is "no definitive answer" that the pandemic can be traced to a lab leak in China.

Then FBI Director Christopher Wray dropped a bombshell that detonated the administration's attempt to preserve the natural origin thesis.  "The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan," the director said in a television interview. 

For three years, Dr. Fauci and the World Health Organization (WHO) have collaborated to advance the theory that the virus spread to humans from animals, likely bats, at a market in Wuhan.  China promoted this version while stiff arming an independent, scientific investigation into the origin.

WHO officials were bullied by China into accepting the Communist theory. There was a hurried probe by an international group of experts, working alongside Chinese health officials.  The controversial study published in 2021 became the official thesis under pining the Chinese version.

In June of last year the WHO recommended further investigation into the possibility of a lab leak, marking a seismic shift from its earlier stance.  Under withering criticism, the world organization admitted the original finding had been "premature," asserting it could not rule out the lab leak version. 

China slammed the world organization and withdrew its collaboration with the group. In his interview, Wray took note of China's lack of cooperation and observed the Chinese government "has been doing its best to try to thwart, and obfuscate" a legitimate investigation into the role of the Wuhan lab. 

A State Department fact-sheet on its website minces no words on in assessing the Chinese government's role in a coverup:

"...The Chinese Communist Party has systematically prevented a transparent and thorough investigation of the COVID-19 pandemic's origin, choosing instead to devote enormous resources to deceit and disinformation."

The State Department verified it had reason to believe that several researchers inside the Wuhan lab became sick with COVID in the autumn of 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak.  This raises questions about Wuhan officials public claims there were "zero infections" among its staff.

Despite mounting evidence of a lab leak, Dr. Fauci claims there is no data to support such a thesis. He knows global health authorities have been prevented from interviewing Wuhan researchers. He also fails to mention there is no credible, independent data to support the animal to human theory either. 

Early in the pandemic a Senate Committee disclosed internal emails showing Dr. Fauci was informed by senior scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that a natural origin was "highly unlikely." Dr. Fauci was director of the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the NIH. 

Perhaps, Dr. Fauci was protecting his reputation. As NIAID director, Dr. Fauci administered  grants totaling $2.57 million to the EcoHealth Alliance, a New York based nonprofit research group.  An estimated $1.8 million wound up funding research at the Wuhan research facility.  

What is indisputable is that the Wuhan lab engaged in "gain of function" research designed to replicate a virus to increase its virulence and transmissibility to humans.  Dr. Fauci has vociferously denied that American taxpayer dollars were used for "gain of function" experiments. 

Dr. Peter Daszak, a British zoologist who runs EcoHealth, has emerged as a central figure in the "gain of function" controversy.  He has been a target of recent Congressional inquiries for his role in overseeing the funding of the Wuhan lab, while tacitly supporting the research at the government facility.  

The office of Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security audited the grants made by NIH to EcoHealth and issued a scathing 64-page report on January 25.  The document excoriates confusing protocols, misspent funds and monitoring of the potentially risky pathogens studied. 

The inspector general's audit found that the NIH "did not refer the research to HHS (Health & Human Services) for an outside review for enhanced potential pandemic pathogens" after a grant to the Wuhan lab.  Here are three key sentences from the OIG report:

"We found that NIH was only able to conclude that research resulted in virus growth that met specified benchmarks based on a late progress report from EcoHealth that NIH failed to follow up on until nearly two years after the due date.

"Based on these finding, we conclude that the NIH missed opportunities to more effectively monitor research.  With improved oversight, NIH may have been able to take more timely corrective actions to mitigate the inherent risks associated with this type of research.

"WIV's lack of cooperation following the COVID 19 outbreak limited EcoHealth's ability to monitor" how the funds were used by the Chinese facility.

In plain language: The NIH failed to supervise the administration of taxpayer money given to EcoHealth for pathogen research at the Wuhan lab.  That may explain why Dr. Fauci has stubbornly clung to the thesis that the global plague was transmitted naturally from animals to humans. 

Past censorship allowed China to escape culpability. Now there is a moral and scientific imperative for Congress and public health authorities to determine the full extent of China's complicity in covering up the origins of one of the deadliest pandemics in modern history.

Monkeyshines Over Monkeypox Outbreak

Editors Note:  With apologies to the Babylon Bee, this column is meant to be humorous and satirical. It is a complete fabrication. Don't spend your valuable time at Snopes website fact-checking the details. The Washington Post would  give it five Pinochios. It is a work of fiction. 

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Dr. Anthony Fauci, El Jefe of an agency called NIH, issued an urgent warning about the spread of Monkeypox.  There have been 92 cases in 12 countries.  The oldest living federal government executive appealed to Americans to take Monkeypox "really, really seriously."

"We can't let our guard down," Fauci told a media conference.  "I'm still mad that some Red States dropped masking requirements during COVID. That ain't happening again on my watch.  The Monkeypox scourge is an existential threat to our very civilization. Even in Florida."

The saintly Fauci, an icon on morning television, explained that Monkeypox is spread through close contact with people, animals or material infected with the virus.  Human-to-human contact is believed to occur through respiratory droplets,  according to the World's Worst Health Organization (WWHO).

"Everyone will need to mask up," the diminutive doctor told reporters, straining to get a view of him.  "One of the first symptoms likely to appear is an insatiable appetite for bananas.  Others signs include walking on all fours, picking at sores on your body and swinging from tree-to-tree."

In rare cases, Fauci said some individuals may grow long, furry tails after four weeks.  "It usually only occurs in males because, let's face it, some men act like apes.  Especially those dimwits who won't follow the science.  They think Monkeypox is just like having the flu."

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, advised the most vulnerable in the population will need two pox shots and 14 boosters. "Those most at risk are Americans with hairy bodies," she warned.  She recommended full body waxes as a precaution. 

Walensky, formerly with the Flying Walenskies, promised her agency would send 10 billion home tests kits to Americans over the next 20 years.  In addition, the CDC is urging the use of masks indoors, outdoors, in your bed and in the closet, while you cower in fear of the pox.

The CDC honcho urged the Department of Justice to hunt down and arrest anyone appearing in public without a mask.  Merritt Garland issued a statement pledging his department would deputize a self-righteous squad of virtual signaling elites to aid in the effort to Mask Up America.

"Mask vigilantes are just the first step,"Garland revealed.  "There will be $1,000 bounties paid to  people who snitch on their neighbors." Asked by a reporter if this was unconstitutional, Garland replied: "Under our constitution there are no absolute rights.  The only rights are those granted by the DOJ."

WWHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus (yeah, that's his real name) called on all countries to institute harsh lockdowns like those China employed during the COVID pandemic. "No one should be allowed out of their house, even for a Starbucks latte.  No trips to grocery stores either."

The Ethiopian WWHO master challenged a reporter's question about the severity of such lockdowns. "What would you rather be--well-fed or alive?" Tedros (etc) barked.  "Look how well this has worked in China.  Locking people up helps the government keep track of everyone. It's genius."

The federal Department of Agriculture tasked the Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service to round up monkeys in America's zoos and place the primates in isolation to protect the public. Zookeepers will be quarantined for the next six months to prevent the spread of Monkeypox.

(If you're shaking your head in disbelief, your federal government is so large it does have an Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service to enforce the Animal Welfare Act approved by Congress in 1966. Your tax dollars pay for it. Don't you feel safer?)

The New York Times, Washington Post and ABC, CBS and NBC praised the administration for its quick action on Monkeypox.  "We may be running out of gasoline, infant formula, while inflation is wiping out ordinary people's savings, but the nation's health is THE priority," the media echo chamber gushed.

Forty-three scientists with federal government grants, the entire intelligence community, eight retired Postmasters and a couple of homeless people in San Francisco took out an ad in the Wall Street Journal appealing to Americans to become sheep-like, following the health shepherd Fauci.

When pressed on the science behind the monkeypox restrictions, Dr. Fauci became defensive.  "I am science. We don't need research. That's why we are allies with the United Kingdom and Israel.  They do scientific studies.  I don't need a study to tell me Monkeypox is bad, bad, bad."

Within hours of the media show, President Biden signed his 110th executive order, this one requiring grocery stores to pull bananas from store shelves.  In addition, songs and books mentioning the word "monkey" have been banned. "Monkey is now a four-letter word," the president said earnestly. 

Polls show Americans plan to remain unmasked.  However,  77% of the population believe monkeys have the right to self-identify as elephants. "This could end the Monkeypox crisis," Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell said.  "But I guess then we'd have elephants showering with monkeys."

Lessons From Pandemic: Public Trust Easily Lost

Since the beginning of the pandemic, disciples of Dr. Anthony Fauci demanded adherence to science.    Anyone who challenged the octogenarian medical advisor was labeled a science denier. That shielded Dr. Fauci and his partners at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) from legitimate professional criticism.

With the protection of the legacy media, Dr. Fauci and the CDC pushed for isolating an entire country and in the process shut down the world's biggest economy.  They issued calls for mask and vaccination mandates.  They lectured Americans on how many family members could attend a Christmas gathering.

In the beginning,  Americans generally heeded the health warnings. They were frightened by dire news reporting, often lacking context, about the virus.  The New York Times and other newspapers carried updated COVID death and case counts on the front pages. Fear was a weapon for compliance.

When miracle vaccines were introduced at the end of 2020, there appeared a light at the end of pandemic tunnel. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris evolved from suggesting the vaccines were rushed into production to becoming its biggest cheerleaders. Vaccines would halt the pandemic.

Administration officials, including the president, donned masks on every occasion, even wearing one as they walked  to the podium in a nearly empty room.  They were following the science.  Masks work to protect the wearer from spreading or contracting the contagious virus. No one questioned the science.

Just when there appeared to be a rising optimism for a return to normal, President Biden unleashed executive orders to require vaccinations for Americans in businesses, government, the military and health care workers.  The federal government usurped responsibility for Americans' health decisions,.

This appeared to many legal scholars to be unConstitutional, a breach of freedom.  Court cases were filed by a growing number of states. Americans were divided into two camps: those who believed it was necessary to force Americans to get the jab versus those who wanted to make their own choice.

By mid-year in 2021, more Americans were wearying of the never ending mandates.  They wanted to exercise their right of freedom from authoritarian rules.  States began lifting mask mandates, opening schools, liberating citizens from Washington's vaccination obsession and resuming normal life.

Clearly,  politics not science is carrying the day. Never was it more clear when Democrat states New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts and California announced last week they are revising or dropping mask mandates.  Mandates are deeply unpopular with voters.

Ironically, these moves come at a time when the spread of COVID remains rampant.  Hundreds of thousands of Americans are getting infected every day.  More than 3,000 are dying. In January, COVID killed more Americans than the flu has in three years.  There were 55,000 deaths, reports the CDC.

The seven-day fatality average in January was the highest point it has been since last winter before vaccines were widely available. Omicron is expected to push the U.S. total deaths past the one million mark, according to Andrew Noymer, a public health professor at University of California-Irvine.

So has the science of masks and vaccinations changed?  Mask policies are the victim of an admission by the CDC that a cloth mask is virtually useless against the spread of COVID.  And there have been thousands and thousands of so-called breakthrough cases of the fully vaccinated.

This month the CDC released a report showing that the effectiveness of the booster shot for fully vaccinated individuals begins to wane just four months after the jab, adding to public skepticism.  In another surprising move, the FDA postponed its decision on a Pfizer vaccine for children four and under.  

These are signs of a broad concession that vaccines are not the Holy Grail scientists once thought they were.  The are better than no protection against COVID, especially for high risk Americans, but the vaccines do not last as long as the CDC and Dr. Fauci claimed at one time.

As a result, there has been a near total collapse of faith in the government, the CDC and Dr. Fauci in particular, when it comes to the pandemic.  A NewsNationaPoll, conducted by Decision Desk HQ, found that a meager 15.5% trust the president and only 31% trust Dr. Fauci.

Other polls may show higher trust levels, but the research confirms Americans are losing faith in public health officials, particularly those in Washington.  An ABC News survey found that 43% of Americans do not trust the CDC.  Faith in Mr. Biden on the Coronavirus skidded to 37% in January.

The new media fared even worse.  One poll found that only one-in-ten Americans trust the information churned out by the news media on the pandemic.  At the same time, fully two-thirds of Americans trust the advice of their primary care provider on COVID.

A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll reflects the growing resentment of Americans with continuing restrictions.  In the survey, 75% of Americans expressed frustration and fatigue over the current state of the COVID pandemic. Fully 77% believe it is inevitable most people will be infected.

Some Democrat and Republican governors, eyeing upcoming midterms, are feeling the heat. That explains the about face on mask mandates and the softening of vaccine mandates.  Despite the administration mandates, 63.6% of Americans are fully vaccinated as of January. 

Politics is trumping science.  As the pandemic has stretched through the months, the line between science and politics has been blurred. That partly explains the erosion of public trust.  However, in a pandemic, trust in government and in one's fellow citizens is key to successful communications.

Dr. Fauci and the CDC were cast in the dominant role of the disseminating information on the virus.  It was incumbent on those speaking for the administration to be accurate, transparent, and truthful. When decisions are communicated, Americans expect facts to support the health directive. 

Unfortunately, the keepers of the information fell into a pattern of vacillating between contradictory positions, often igniting the flames of disinformation.  Worst of all, instead of admitting mistakes or just acknowledging the answers were elusive, Washington's health officials were unrepentant. 

Meanwhile, scientists, epidemiologists and health experts who disagreed with the prevailing advice from Dr. Fauci and the CDC were censored.  They were booted off social media.  Their studies were scrubbed from scientific websites  Despite their credentials, they were not allowed to have a dissenting opinion.

The censorship was conducted with the full-throated backing of Dr. Fauci, the CDC and the administration.  The move backfired.  When you end debate on a novel virus and insist on only one version of science, public mistrust deepens.  Americans are smarter than government officials believe.  

Now even Dr. Fauci has joined the billowing chorus of health officials in predicting the "full blown" pandemic could be ending soon.  He admitted that more health decisions will "increasingly be made at the local level rather than centrally" mandated.  

Then the face of the pandemic did the unthinkable by adding: "There will also be more people making their own decision on how they want to deal with the virus." Hate to burst his self-inflated ego but many Americans have been doing this since the winter of 2020 passed.

The inimitable doctor and the CDC should take stock of their communications missteps.  The lesson is trust is easily lost if Americans believe they are not getting the entire story.  Every contradictory directive, unexplained advisory and inflexible restriction chips away at public trust.

Communications also should be tailored to specific audiences.  At the start of the pandemic, more information should have been directed at the most vulnerable: the elderly, immune compromised and those with comorbidities.  Instead, the government aimed its information at the general public.

Defenders of Dr. Fauci and the CDC will retort: the COVID virus was an epidemiological mystery that required more than a year to unravel. Fair enough.  But it behoved officials to admit they didn't have all the answers. Temper advice with a caution that it is subject to change as more facts are known.

In a free society, health officials will fail or succeed in dealing with a pandemic by mobilizing public trust in the government and among its citizens.  A thorough airing of the contrarian views from health experts is healthy. Showing trust in citizens to do the right thing is crucial. 

Those are valuable lessons for health authorities to remember during the next pandemic.

Covid 19: The Facts The Media Won't Report

Americans grappling with the Coronavirus need facts instead of half-baked worst case scenarios.  The news media in collusion with politicians continue to sow seeds of fear, paralyzing the nation, promoting hoarding of food and condemning anyone voicing optimism instead of gloom.

The disinformation avalanche among dubious scientists, politically active doctors, past administration officials, uninformed journalists and the World Health Organization (WHO) has overwhelmed the public with a dizzying array of conflicting reports and dire projections.

In point of fact, the head of WHO has warned of a massive "infodemic", an overabundance of data and information, some accurate and most inaccurate, that makes it difficult for "people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when we need it."  Amen.

Most worst case scenarios are based on models that assume minimal government intervention, hospital bed shortages, doctors too sick to treat patients, lack of a strict quarantine and no school closures.  Using this model, a European journalist projected 100 million cases.  This is not credible.  

The news media is the most unreliable source of unbiased, scientific information and data.  My advice is tune it out.  Turn to the experts in infectious diseases.  Those include Johns Hopkins University, the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Using the data from those three sources, here are facts the mainstream media, including Fox News, have not reported in their haste to dish up around-the-clock, audience boosting, Apocalyptic  perspectives on COVID-19. Note: All data below is as of March 21 from CDC, Johns Hopkins and NIH.

•  83% of all the deaths reported have been in just four countries: China, Italy, Spain and Iran.
• 57% of all the cases worldwide have been reported in those same four countries.
• 94,176 individuals globally have recovered from the virus without complications.
• The fatality rate worldwide is 0.4%, one of the least lethal viruses in recent times.
• The worldwide death rate for those 80+ is 14.8%.
• Infected patients over age 65 account for 80% of U.S. deaths.
• The current fatality rate in the U.S. is .01%, identical to the seasonal flu deaths (.01%).

Those highest risk of infection are elderly, especially those with with preexisting conditions.  Here are the death rates for those seniors, calculated by Worldometer a respected reference website. The stats are fatality rates for those infected with the virus with the following preexisting conditions:

• Cardiovascular Disease  13.2%
• Diabetes 9.2%
• Hypertension  8.4%
• Chronic Respiratory Disease 8.0%
• Cancer 7.6%

These are facts not hyperbole.  The numbers cited above clearly indicate most Americans are not at a high risk even if that contract the virus. That fact has been absent from most news articles and from many medical experts rhapsodizing on television.

Yet alarmists persist, in spite of the statistics, claiming this virus is more deadly than any we have faced.  This is patently false.  The SARS death rate was 9.6% and MERS was 34%.  Even though COVID 19 rates are in flux, credible sources put the worldwide fatality rate at 0.4%. 

In an effort to make the current crisis appear likely to escalate, some health officials are warning this could be another 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that killed 50 million people worldwide and infected 500 million individuals.  About 675,000 Americans died of complications from the Spanish Flu.

Certainly, those are frightening numbers.  However, what the experts do not tell you is that comparing the health care in 1918 to today is akin to the comparing automobiles from that era to the present. To being with, there were no vaccines and no antibiotics to fight the infection in 1918.

Health care was limited to non-pharmaceutical intervention.  In other words, people sheltered in place.  That was the only available tool to fight the spread of the disease.  The number of hospitals in the U.S. in 1918 is dwarfed by the modern facilities we have today in the country.

Any "expert" using the 1918 virus as a predictor of what will happen in America today is an irresponsible charlatan.  

The view of many politically motivated journalists and those who have lobbied for a Draconian lockdown of America can be summarized in this opinion piece from Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan who penned the following:

"Is all this an overreaction?  If it is, we'll recover.  If we're too cautions we'll realize after a while and we'll all get angry at the economic cost of it and have big arguments and fights.  But we'll be here to argue and fight."

This tortured logic, which has been repeated often by politicians, exhibits a callous disregard for the millions of Americans who will be laid off, unable to feed their families, suffer economic hardships, forfeit their life savings in the stock market, lose their homes or be forced on welfare.

These average Americans are viewed by the media as collateral damage. But isn't it interesting that every sports superstar or Hollywood celebrity who contracts the virus becomes "breaking news."  These folks have fortunes to sustain them whatever the adversity.  Others have no safety net. 

While the media and critics continue to complain about the lack of a vaccine, here is a sobering observation from Johns Hopkins.  "A new vaccines might be at least 12 to 18 months away though new drug treatments will likely come sooner," the School of Public Health reported on its website.

The good news is that Johns Hopkins is leading a pioneering effort using plasma recovered from survivors of the Coronavirus as a treatment for those infected as well as a prevention of infection.  With cooperation from the FDA, the plasma treatment could be rolled out in three to four weeks.

This strategy is already being used in China, which has shipped plasma to Italy. Johns Hopkins experts say the plasma is very safe because it is screened for bloodborne pathogens.  Blood transfusions are some of the most regulated industries in the U.S. and one of the safest.

Early results also show that a common drug used to treat malaria offers promise in arresting he Coronavirus.  The drug has the advantage of already being approved by the FDA and supplies are readily available throughout the country.  Testing and trails have begun in earnest.  

These examples are evidence that America is not standing still waiting for some miracle to spare us from the Coronavirus.  The entire scientific community, pharmaceutical companies and global healthcare institutions are actively racing to find a treatment and a vaccine.

Americans need to be informed that once this epidemic subsides that the risk of future pandemics is mushrooming every year with global business and pleasure travel, worldwide supply chains where medicines and health products and other goods are regularly transported across borders.

The incidence of infectious disease calamities has more than doubled from the 1940's to the 1960's, according to EcoHealth Alliance, a New York based nonprofit research group.  The rates of such incidents surged in the 1980's with the advent of HIV and is escalating, the group reports.

This century alone the world has confronted a legion of viral scares, including SARS in 2002 and 2003, the swine flu (H1N1) in 2009, MERS in 2012, Ebola in 2014 to 2016, Zika in 2015 and Dengue fever in 2016. The United States survived these outbreaks without a nationwide lockdown.

America and the world needs a post mortem after the Coronavirus subsides to assess how we dealt with the pandemic without playing the blame game.  What can we do next time to minimize economic and social disruption and still protect people?  That should be the objective of any plan.      

If there is a beacon of hope in this current panic, it has been the response of average Americans.  Teachers are preparing lunches for school children who depend on this meal. One Texas school teacher is hosting a Facebook video to teach homebound kids to play chess.

Restaurants are offering take-out food to keep their businesses running and provide employment for their hourly wage workers.  Students in a small Nebraska community are making get well cards for those with the virus.  Pharmacies are open, dispensing critical medications to sick people.  

The Food Bank and extraordinary volunteers are distributing groceries to shut-ins and the elderly.  Churches are conducting online services.  I have observed kindnesses of complete strangers who share their food, toilet paper and disinfectants.  This should make everyone proud to be an American.

And let's not forget the real heroes--those doctors, nurses, medical assistants, hospital emergency room personnel and other healthcare workers who are on the frontlines in the battle against this virus. They have put their own health at risk to save others.  There is no more noble sacrifice.    

Our resilient nation will survive this emergency just as we always have.  Put your faith in God and not in the government to end this trauma.  He remains our eternal hope. This trial too shall pass. After it does, let a grateful nation bend its knees in praise of our Creator.

COVID-19: Shameless Media Fearmongers

Once the word "pandemic" was uttered the national news media's coverage of the coronavirus shifted into overdrive.  Each new case of the virus is breathtakingly reported.  Each flu-related death triggers a breaking news alert.  The media treatment is actually scarier than the pandemic.

This inflammatory reporting incited a full fledged panic attack.  Stock markets quaked in a selling frenzy, wiping out trillions in value. Businesses issued dire reports on future earnings amid supply chain disruptions.  The havoc sent the economy teetering on the brink of a recession. 

What was missing in the scorched earth news coverage was any sense of perspective.  Without a frame of reference, people became alarmed by what was reported to be an out-of-control, foreign-born, dangerously lethal, previously unknown virus, dubbed COVID-19.

But was the incendiary coverage justified?  Judge for yourself after a review of the facts.

Because the virus was birthed in China, home of the world's most secretive Communist regime, this heightened speculation about the number of cases, the cause of the virus and the death-rates.  Instead of exercising restraint in its coverage, the media has operated irresponsibility.

As just one example, based on specious sources there was a flurry of rumors that the coronavirus originated in a Chinese biochemical warfare lab located in Wuhan.  An analysis of the virus by 27 scientists and public health officials discredited the claim in the medical journal The Lancet.

In a crisis of this nature, facts really do matter.  According to the latest World Health Organization data, there have been 89,527 cases reported and 3,056 deaths worldwide.  However, all but 183 of those deaths have been in China, which has recorded the overwhelming majority of cases: 80,174.

The death rate in China's Habel Providence, the epicenter of the virus, now stands at 2.9% of the cases.  Although experts agree, that the figure is likely inflated by China's inability to diagnose and count thousands of mild cases in the early stages.  Outside Habel, the death rate is 0.3%.

The vast majority of those contaminated with the flu in China have only exhibited mild symptoms and most have recovered.  Of the confirmed cases in China, more than 81% are rated mild, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases have declined since February 12.

In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figures show 43 cases out of a population of 320 million.  Seventeen people have been hospitalised with the virus and two deaths recorded. Ten states have identified coronavirus cases.

The figures do not include Americans contaminated with the virus who were residing in Habel Providence or quarantined on cruise ships.  Among those returning Americans, there were 48 confirmed cases of the virus.  Most of the cases (45) were from cruise ship travelers.

As with most flu viruses, the elderly, very young and immune compromised are most at risk.  The two U.S. deaths both occurred in elderly people. Healthy individuals are at a low risk.  That is why CDC officials continue to report there is a low risk of infection.   

COVID-19 officially became a pandemic because cases have been reported in 67 countries. That is the definition of a pandemic.  The word does not imply the virus cannot be halted.  Or that it is inevitable there will be an uncontainable outbreak.  There is reason for caution, but not panic.

In its reporting, many news outlets referenced the SARS virus outbreak in 2003 in an attempt to raise the spectre of a rampant killer.  But most neglected to mention the SARS pandemic infected 8,098 people globally causing 774 deaths.   That death rate was 0.09%, less than common influenza.

The most recent and deadliest pandemic was the H1N1 swine flu virus that claimed 575,400 deaths worldwide in 2009, according to the CDC.  The agency estimated 61 million people in the U.S. suffered from the virus that caused 12,469 deaths.

As these statistics and history show, over time most civilized countries have developed better science for detecting, treating and slowing down the spread of dangerous viruses.  Information and real time health data travels faster than in the past.  That aids health officials in their efforts to battle the virus.

While each new influenza-like virus grabs headlines, hardly any attention is paid to the garden variety virus that raises its ugly head every winter in the United States.  During most influenza seasons, the average death rate is 0.1% of Americans infected with the contagion.

Annual influenza outbreaks seldom make the news.  According to the CDC, from 2010 to 2016, annual flu-related deaths ranged from 12,000 to 56,000 during the period.  In the 2016-2017 flu season, the virus surged throughout the U.S., killing nearly 80,000, the highest toll in four decades.

During that flu season, 959,000 cases required hospitalization the CDC estimated.  One contributor may have been that only 59% of adults and 43% of children were inoculated with the flu vaccine.  That means a majority of young people and four-in-ten adults were left unprotected.

Do you recall around-the-clock news coverage of this epidemic?  Me neither.  That's why the reporting of COVID-19 stands out as an indictment of today's journalism as well as politicians who attempt to use the pandemic as an excuse to attack the administration for its handling of the crisis.

Media pundits are actually suggesting the virus may create an opening for Democrats to exploit against President in the 2020 election.  One reporter insisted on calling the contagion the Trump Virus. A health crisis should be met with bipartisanship, not political backbiting.

Democrat presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg has charged Mr. Trump with making "reckless cuts" to the CDC budget.  Associated Press (AP) fact-checkers called the allegation false.  "Financing for the CDC was increased in the last budget," AP reported.

Another unsubstantiated claim that the administration was responsible for a steady erosion in CDC grants to state and local governments to deal with pandemics.  Again AP disputed the allegation. The grant reductions were "set in motion by Congressional measures that predate Trump," AP explained.

Not satisfied, some reporters are demanding to know why a flu vaccine is not available to prevent the spread of COVID-19.  "What's taking so long?" they bellow.  The answer is months of research and human trials are required before vaccines are certified safe enough to use on the general population.

This is standard procedure.  In nearly every case, by the time the new vaccines are ready for public use most pandemics have already subsided with the return of warm weather.  Rather than hoping for a vaccine, there are many precautions a family can take to avoid the flu.

Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze.  Wash your hands thoroughly and often.  Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.  Disinfect surfaces that other people touch.  And avoid crowds, particularly on cruise ships, which are breeding grounds for all types of infections.

I know those precautions sound trite.  But they are still the best protection from contracting the COVID-19 or any flu virus.  That is what the news media should be doing:  Educating the public instead of stirring up frenzied hysteria.  Fearmongers, not a virus,  are the biggest threat to America.