Propaganda: “Person X” who opposes mask mandates tests positive for COVID-19 

Propaganda: “Person X” who opposes mask mandates tests positive for COVID-19 

This has become a standard headline in the United States: Missouri Governor who opposes mask mandates tests positive for COVID-19 | The Independent

That is a propaganda headline. Have you ever seen a headline that says Person Y who supports masks tests positive for COVID-19?

According to WHO, 1 in 7 people who contracted Covid-19 are health care workersand virtually of them were not only wearing masks, but often wearing N95 masks and following a suite of infectious disease protocols. (In my state, about 10% of those with Covid-19 work in health care which is slightly less than their representation in the overall workforce). But the media has never reported that “Health care workers wearing face masks are testing positive for Covid-19”.[1]

The media has undertaken a national propaganda campaign on face masks: They only report when a person opposed to face masks tests positive. They NEVER report that most people testing positive were probably wearing face masks much of the time. This intentionally biases your perspective on the effectiveness of face masks.

The media may do this because they know that keeping readers and viewers emotionally inflamed is good for click bait and ad revenue.

UPDATE OCTOBER 18, 2020:

According to CDC data, about 85% of those who contracted Covid-19 wear masks all the time or most of the time. However, the news media NEVER reports that someone who contracted Covid-19 was an enthusiastic supporter and user of masks. This illustrates how media has participated in propagandizing the message on masks, rather than reporting on mask usage.

[1] I am using the terminology “tested positive for Covid-19” rather than saying that someone has Covid-19. I see examples in my state where there is a very high false positive rate. I am in process of trying to contact “officials” to explain this situation because they appear to pretend that false positives are not a problem. Yet yesterday, there are indications that 25-35% of the reported new cases are false positives (has to do with how the Bayesian statistics works out).

Comments are closed.