It’s hard to imagine how the United States can mount a unified response to the coronavirus crisis when we can’t even agree on the basic facts.
A new Axios/Ipsos poll reveals that most people don’t believe the current U.S. death count figures coming from official authorities. The most recent count, as of roughly 10:00 a.m. May 5, comes in at roughly 1.2 million confirmed cases and almost 70,000 deaths. But according to the new poll, only 32% of adults say they view these numbers as accurate.
Forty-four percent think the real number is higher than what’s reported, but a startling 23% of respondents said they think the official death count is artificially inflated.
These data have a stark partisan divide to them, too. Democrats are more likely to view the official figures as underestimates, while a shocking 40% of Republicans believe the death counts are inflated.
It is simply not true that the death count is artificially inflated. Many experts have warned that official figures might dramatically undercount the true number of coronavirus-related deaths. Yale epidemiologist Daniel Weinberger said the official numbers are “probably a substantial underestimate of the true number.” Weinberger and other Yale scientists have published a preliminary paper suggesting that the current death counts for New Jersey and New York may be underestimated by a factor of 1.5 to 3.
So, why do so many Republicans believe otherwise? It may have something to do with the range of right-wing pundits, such as Candace Owens, spreading coronavirus conspiracy theories and baselessly arguing the numbers are agenda-driven lies. This kind of “just asking questions” tin-hat theorizing might generate the kind of clicks and attention that keep grifters like Owens going, but it does their followers a deep disservice.
FACT: we went from 2.2 million, to 100,000, to 60,000 predictive #coronavirus deaths because the models were always bullshit, the media was always lying, and the virus was never as fatal as the experts that are chronically wrong about everything, prophesized.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) April 9, 2020
New York City has a #coronavirus death rate that is evidentially 200 times higher than any other city in the world.
More than 1/3 of America’s Covid-19 deaths occurred in NYC—a city of just 7 million of our nations 330 million citizens.
Don’t question the narrative, though.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) April 27, 2020
We’re now amid a debate over whether it’s the right time for states to start reopening businesses and loosening restrictions. It’s an important one, and the answer will vary depending on the situation in different areas. But any partial reopening requires that people are informed enough about the risks and dangers to make their own decisions about going back out into the economy, and they can’t do that if they’ve fallen for partisan misinformation.
