Accurate information on Coronavirus

As with any crisis, facts quickly become difficult to find. Any time politics is involved, there will be people – often prominent people – who put out wildly varying information and claims. People exaggerate and underplay the situation. When other political issues are involved, the claims are frequently slanted for or against the position held by specific people.

Panic makes this situation worse. I’ve seen and heard of all kinds of “facts” that are often little more than rumors or fond hopes. People are scared, and will grasp at straws. A rumor will be spread in hope of providing comfort by some, and with the intent of increasing fear and panic, and getting certain actions taken by others.

Here are some suggestions from those of us at The Price of Liberty for sources of accurate information.

For information directly on the spread and mortality of Beer Flu – including those who have recovered, I suggest Johns Hopkins University’s website. It is not totally accurate (nothing reported from North Korea, for instance, and some deaths not actually directly from coronavirus) but still the best I’ve been able to find. It appears to update at least hourly. It definitely seems to be more up-to-date and accurate than the various media outlets.

It has a map and tables, and breaks out cases, recovery, and death by country. In the case of Australia and Canada, it breaks it out by state/province (though oddly not even by nation in the United Kingdom). Until today, it broke things down by State in the Fifty States, but just started reporting by county/city. Again, there are some errors, but few as compared to others.

Another source is of course your local State’s Department of Public Health or equivalent. And sometimes county and municipal public health departments. However, I’ve found their data tends to be updated less frequently and inaccurate, both over and under the the true numbers.

National, regional, and local media are the worse sources: they are getting their data from a variety of sources, apparently including calls in from medical clinics and just about anyone.

When it comes to recommendations on dealing with Beer Flu, it is “Katy, bar the door.” Far more erroneous information seems to be available than accurate data. If you have someone involved in public health or medicine whom you trust, listen to them or read their suggestions before whatever pops up on Google or Bing. Don’t trust just one source, though – evaluate and compare them.

This is especially true with government sources – particularly those of states trying to get more federal attention and funding, and those who seem to WANT their people to panic. Especially avoid political and campaign sites “trying to help” by providing inforamation. All too often they simply suggest (and report) things which promote their candidate’s view and goals.

Even libertarian and other alternative media sites must be viewed with caution. Once more, they are too likely to support their own agendas and slant their suggestions. Ditto for commercial sites, who may be more interesting in selling you their products, whether it is their brand of essential oils, under-the-counter quinine pills, or their plans for making masks. (There are lots of people providing good or great patterns, for free.) And then we have the real scammers.

Although Mike Adams is prone to hyperbole and pushing the envelope, his website may be one to consider. So too is Daisy Luther’s website. Again, use common sense in reading and following suggestions from ANY website or other source.

The absolutely LAST place to look for accurate information and useful tips for dealing with this is social media like Twitter and Facebook. The level of error and outright falsification of information is just too high to trust them – although specific accounts and organizations may be good.