The flu killed nearly 200 children last season. This time, 1 has died.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/03/02/children-flu-deaths/
Changes in case reporting methodology and or does influenza test positive on Covid tests? How are children deaths in the US due to pneumonia being classified?
What are the long term statistics on child influenza deaths?
Don’t worry, while I’’m currently relying on memory, I will be posting relevant statistics in time, using sources that include respected printed materials, which I’ll post a photo of, if search engines fail.
There is a long history of statistical reporting methodologies being changed in the US, often after a regulatory push, in an effort to show “Progress” on an issue has been made. For example, the definitions for unemployment rates have changed multiple times, in the US, and other countries, for that matter. Can you guess in what way these methodologies changed? The reporting threshold of nuclear accidents has been changed in the US. Since then, the number of “Major nuclear accidents and incidents” has dropped from 1 or 2 per year to 0, most years, the last time I checked. Feel safer, do you? In trucking, there was a major regulatory push with involving electronic logs and subsequent changes in “Reportable accident” thresholds. Guess which direction those thresholds went? Even regardless of the accident reporting thresholds being increased, big truck accidents have been on the rise in recent recent years, reversing a decade plus decline of fatality rates involving big trucks and passenger vehicles. Log fraud is down, but once the day is started, it is often impractical to stop for a nap, if needed, effectively forcing a driver to “Push through” a period of being less alert or sick.
Too often harmful policy changes are sold as solving a problem, including those problems that are contrived, to implement a hidden agenda, that if otherwise publicly known, would spark outrage that could result in changing political fortunes.
You know where this all leads to, don’t you? The media and corporations misuse statistics to influence public opinion for power and profits? The suppression of dissenting opinions through intimidation and censorship? However, the full information is still out there. Somewhere. So again, while search engines may play games with their algorithms, website content can be changed, printed books cannot. Or can they? Fahrenheit 451, anyone? Except, in order for the concept of “The book people” in the story to work, trust must be established. In the present day, there is not a lot of that going around, is there?
There are many reasons for intelligent, reasonable people to disagree on significant issues. They are: short versus long term thinking, relative differences in weighing various points, differences in depth of understanding the issue, and so on.
While the vast majority of people are good. I have to wonder about some of our executives and politicians. What comes to mind when you hear the word, Sacklers? (Opioid crisis). Martin Shkreli (Turing pharmaceuticals, extreme price gouging), David Koch? (No memory jog needed). What words would you use to describe the characters of the aforementioned?
So if you have some statistics to prove me wrong, please post them, and if they are truly reflective of reality, I’ll shut up about the issue. A form of self censorship for cause, if you will! Who could ask for more!