Don't let the media push fear on you

In trying to abide by the “15 days to slow the spread of coronavirus”, I stayed at home and watched a lot of TV news. Although most of the broadcasts were trying to keep the viewers up to date on the coronavirus pandemic, everything was always presented with an air of hysteria.

Most of the news programs started with how many cases, and deaths, had been reported that day – both worldwide and in the United States. I know those statistics are relevant and important, but most of the news outlets never got to the positive developments of the day.

The media’s reporting was to promote the fear factor, because that’s what they do! To them, it’s not a good story unless it highlights a bad story.

Good news stories include the success we’ve seen with the use of hydroxychloroquine, which several physicians are prescribing on an off-label basis to treat COVID-19. Although the number of patients it has been used on is not very high, the results have been impressive.

The fact that at least a dozen or more companies or labs were working on a vaccine for the virus is good news. Last week there were only five reported to be working on a vaccine.

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The fact that even New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo acknowledged that the number of hospitalizations was declining daily is good news, and that the “social distancing” might in fact be working. That’s from someone who has not traditionally been a fan of federal help, but he’s getting it.

Deaths from an illness or disease are never a good thing. But when was the last time a news report put the coronavirus statistics into perspective versus the death statistics for the flu? Not often, because the flu death statistics are much worse than the coronavirus statistics.

I know that the coronavirus is different from the flu. But a recent breakthrough suggests that the coronavirus is non-mutating, whereas the flu mutates. This is why we usually get an annual flu shot.

The fact that President Trump expressed optimism for getting back to our normal daily lives was also criticized, dissected and dismissed. There is nothing wrong with some optimism from the president, unless you are a devout Trump hater, and there are many of them out there.

Fear can only be neutralized with facts. The sensationalizing media does not care about the positive facts. They just move on to the next story that happens to be negative.

Our health care professionals, physicians, first responders and front-line staffers are working tirelessly to win this war. Sensationalizing to cause fear and anxiety does not help. Let people know many of the positive developments to give them some hope.

Hope trumps fear every time.