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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe CDC PSA from coronavirus.gov has dangerous misinformation
Have folks here seen this PSA that the CDC is running? It's very misleading.
It starts with answering "who's most at risk for coronavirus?" and answers it with those over 65, those with medical conditions, etc. This is easily dangerously misinterpreted. Those are the people most at risk for DYING from it, but EVERYONE is at risk of catching it, getting sick from it, and most importantly, becoming a carrier for it.
But even worse...
It goes on to answer its next question, "What should you do if you or a loved one is at higher risk?" The answers are to avoid crowds, wash your hands frequently, etc. WRONG! There are not what you should do IF you are at higher risk! These are what EVERYONE should do, whether you are in a high risk group or not!
This ad is perpetuating the dangerous misperception that young, healthy people don't have to worry about it.
Phoenix61
(16,950 posts)the risks. Nothing about young people are less likely to die but may be left with permanently impaired lung function.
LisaM
(27,758 posts)I think that was wrong, and the consequences have been terrible. It gave a lot of people a sense of false security, and so many didn't understand how viruses are even spread. So while I think a lot of college students showed reckless behavior. I also think that the information they were operating under was dangerously misleading.
A while ago, Lysol or Clorox (can't remember which) ran some ads showing how far a cough can spread through the air, and it was really effective. Something like that would be far more helpful.
hlthe2b
(101,711 posts)cutting out the communication specialists from CDC who have decades of experience with this.
So, while it 'says' CDC, I think it has left a lot of very frustrated career staff mortified.
BComplex
(7,979 posts)and made sure the white house/pence controls the message coming out of there. That's why doctors are saying that the actual death toll is far higher than the CDC is saying it is in the USA.
Pacifist Patriot
(24,647 posts)empedocles
(15,751 posts)barbtries
(28,702 posts)I went to their website and there, at the top of the page, was trump's "15 day plan" and a link to the WH.
haven't looked since. Hopefully after trump isn't president anymore the CDC can regain its reliability and standing.
Pacifist Patriot
(24,647 posts)and to get all my information from WHO.
Igel
(35,191 posts)Dying's certainly not equal. The demographics, even for the US, show the dominance of the 70s. But you can still die if you're young.
In fact "seriously ill" and "hospitalization" aren't equal. Younger = lower chance of hospitalization. It happens, "lower" =/= 0.
Even "getting sick" isn't equal. Just slide the entire range from "no symptoms" to "death" down towards "no symptoms"--lower rate of death, hospitalization, serious case, even sniffles.
Catching it? Yeah, that's equal, as far as I've read. Only idjits say the young are immune.
That's the risk of trying to highlight the risk to one group. Don't listen carefully, you fall into a nice binary opposition--all or nothing. And these are often targeted.
I view it like the voting material at the polling place in Vietnamese. It's not excluding me, it's targeting them. Doesn't mean I can't interpret it as excluding me and take offense--some certainly do--but that's not necessary and not the intent, so it's a wrong inference.
thesquanderer
(11,953 posts)...and that requires EVERYONE do these things, not just those at high risk.
The ad is one of general information. There's no advantage in telling people at higher risk to social distance and hand-wash, versus telling everyone to do these things. Especially when one of our biggest challenges has been convincing everyone that they need to do these things!