99% Nonsense

This meme is mostly false.

Viral Truths

COVID-19 statistics are far from complete, but the best evidence in hand suggests a survival rate of about 99%.

So, the meme gets that one fact right.

But a virus that kills 1% of the folks it infects is, in fact, “evil.” So, the meme’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” public health advice clearly rings false.

If the Coronavirus killed “only” 1% of the country, that would add up to 3.3 million dead Americans. Such a staggering, tragic loss would make the pandemic 333 times more deadly to Americans than the War on Terror, 33 times more lethal than Vietnam, 3 times deadlier than World War II, roughly equal to the American Revolution’s body count, and nearly half as deadly as the Civil War, which killed “only” 2.4% of the country.

Moreover, if past trends continue, most of the dead would be elderly, low-income nonwhites.

COVID-19 kills less than 1% of young, healthy people, but it kills 10.4% of “infected people from age 65 to 74, 20.8% for the 75–84 group, and 30.1% for people over 85.”

The Coronavirus disproportionately kills African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans, because low-income minorities tend to live in more crowded conditions, rely more on public transportation, and have jobs that require greater…