KSAT News Chooses Sensationalism Over Objective Reporting

As Venezuela’s socialist policies have inevitably resulted in (hyper)inflation this century, their government has tried to fix the problem by simply erasing 0s from the bolivar, its currency. 

Governments and media exercise the same manipulation here in statistics, presumably in an effort to attract eyeballs.  In the process, it comes off as sensationalist fearmongering.

KSAT news took its turn today.

They lifted a story from the Associated Press entitled “Hospitalization’s skyrocket in kids too young for COVID shots.”  It reports:

Stated another way, that’s a rise from .0025% of kids to .004%.  Not quite as alarming in appearance though, is it? And how much of that is comprised of those Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, admitted were patients admitted for other reasons?

We have kids.  We direct much of our charitable giving to orphanages, abused kids, et al.  The worst thing that can happen to any of us is when our own kids come down seriously ill.  It’s a real thing when we say we wish we could transfer their pain to us.

But this is the same game the government and media play with gun violence.  When life/society comes up .00X% short of the utopia, that in cahoots they think they can deliver together, they inflate the number. 

Meanwhile, most of us go about our lives, protecting ourselves and our families as best we see fit.  Evidence of that however, gets buried beneath the headlines:

As with the gun debate, when you control for other factors, the numbers go down further.  Moreover, why are the purported top doctors in the land stressing vaccination, but not good health habits?

Say what you will about vaccines.  The right to choose what we do to our own body is a most fundamental one.  Get vaccinated, don’t get vaccinated; individuals can choose our own way.

But almost two years of evidence now shows that eating right and getting some exercise i.e. avoiding obesity, is one of the best ways to avoid the worst effects of COVID-19.  Exercising outside has the added benefit of getting some natural vitamin D, which has also shown to bolster immune defenses.

Plus, being healthy minimizes health care costs, and reduces the amount of medicine we take.  One wonders what government officials would have against that.

There’s about as good of a chance for government and media to enhance their reputation by adding these 0s to the figures they report, as there is for Venezuela to ease their inflation by subtracting them.   

That is to say, about a 0 chance.