My letter to CNN and MSNBC on Covid coverage

I write to express my concerns on coverage of the pandemic.

Much of the focus of coverage on MSNBC and CNN have been on the stupidity of the President. I will not argue the point, it is obvious. It is not really news. Indeed, it is the same information over and over again with different details.

It is also divisive.

It has become so divisive that there are now two sets of facts, one real and one Trumpian. The Trumpian set have evolved because those who trust the President no longer trust the news. While Fox News is part of this, covering Trump's stupidity alienates viewers or potential viewers who need to know the reality of the situation, rather than the electoral spin.

This would not be a problem with a budget debate, but a perceived lack of objectivity is killing people as much as, if not more than, Trump's antics.

Trump does not know better. You should.

Additionally, simply repeating NIH/CDC calls for solidarity rather than going into more detail of what is being said and whether the CDC advice is working shows a blind spot.

The CDC's guidance ignores the nasal symptoms because they don't want to call it a cold. The effect of this is that by ignoring the cold symptoms, the latent asymptomatic period between the last sneeze and the first wheeze, which is when non-symptomatic transmission occurs, is not noted. Not all asymptomatic transmission is the same. Indeed, the post nasal period is likely the only time such transmission occurs.

Check this possibility out. That CDC got it wrong or is shading its message to encourage mask wearing and solidarity supporting the CDC (which is a hierarchical dysfunction - to use public administration/sociological analysis - my area of expertise) is a legitimate story.

Ignoring nasal symptoms means that doctors and stores ask people about SARS symptoms like fever and coughing or exposure to people who may be symptomatic but no longer contagious while ignoring the period when the virus is more likely to have spread (given my experience and that of others who I have talked to who have had the virus without hospitalization).

Assuming virus acquisition is two weeks before any symptoms, including productive sneezing, the time between exposure and SARS symptoms is one month, more or less. You cannot contact trace a cold that occurred two weeks ago unless you count the cold as the main transmission mechanism.

The uncritical coverage of calls to solidarity means that people have died, partly because you did not do your jobs.

Put another way, if you add 2 week to the pre-SARS equation, there is now way social distancing or the quarantine could have worked as implemented. Going off quarantine was not the problem, quarantine that was not long enough or was started before people in the Sun Belt started sneezing (because transmission is more person to person in private than by community), a rally two weeks ago could not have started a hot spot now.

It is easy to blame Trump for everything, or people going to bars, but a bad model is as likely to blame. People who were infected and hospitalized recently likely got the virus during lock down, not as the result of Memorial Day or even bar hopping. Such things may be more coincidental than causative. (As I learned and taught in graduate methodology courses).

Again, I am no Trump supporter, but I do not blame virus spread on him. He is not an intelligent agent. Blaming any effect of the virus on him ignores the fact that the government stopped listening to him blather years ago. Covering his blather gives it more weight than it deserves.

Indeed, doing so gives it weight. Ignoring him in regard to the virus would be a better course. Covering him puts blood on your hands as much as his.

In the end, he may lose because of the virus, although it is his bluster that has lost his credibility. He is likely counting on the Virus going away before the election. It likely will after 500,000 people have died, everyone over 40 has been exposed, with many having some symptoms and millions more than reported actually getting sick. They may blame Trump, but the fault is not his. It is bad science. And media coverage that ignored the possibility of problems with the science.

It also ignored how much less danger health providers face, which is why the PPE level has declined. Not reporting this has people believing that the virus is a death sentence, thus ignoring treatment for it and other things. It is a self-fulfilling prophesy. That effect is partly caused (not correlated) with news coverage.

This has not been your finest hour.

Please adjust, with an acknowledgement of error, to regain the public trust, including from Trump supporters.

Not to is simply unconscionable.

Michael Bindner

PS, this is my projection of how many people will die because the virus model is wrong, based on 0.12% mortality in the population (New York was 0.15% - it is lower because treatment is better in hospital, assuming people go).