# Why hasn't the media rubbed our noses in COVID deaths? It might be the thing that saves us **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [November 27, 2020, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555 "2020-11-27T05:43:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/265 "2020-12-10T02:48:29Z")
> [@FigNorton](#): > > The issue being purposeful murder is different than people dying from a disease. I think the issue here is how people get outraged over 3,000 deaths in the US. Hell, consider how much fuss was made over four deaths in Benghazi? (A LOT) But now these same people are unfussed by 3,000(ish) deaths. Per day. As usual conservatives are wildly inconsistent. Which suggest the real reason for them getting up-in-arms over some issue is different than the real reason because the real reason is a shit reason so they try to hide it. Which means they know they are full of shit but go there anyway. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/266 "2020-12-10T02:54:14Z")
Don’t think there’s a need to discuss “conservative” hypocrisy here. The 3000 mark might move some minds. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/267 "2020-12-10T02:57:58Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I think the issue here is how people get outraged over 3,000 deaths in the US. > > Hell, consider how much fuss was made over four deaths in Benghazi? (A LOT) > > But now these same people are unfussed by 3,000(ish) deaths. Per day. Actually, upon reading it again, I think this circles back to the OP pretty well. Conservatives lost their minds over four deaths and had I forget how many investigations into it. A lot more than a few. They started a war over 3,000 deaths (from 9/11, a war we are still in today…I think now the longest war in the US) but 3,000 deaths per day from a disease…meh. Why? WTF is wrong with them? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/268 "2020-12-10T02:58:23Z")
> [@FigNorton](#): > > The issue being purposeful murder and destruction is different than people dying from a disease. Some non-warfare comparisons, then. These are the biggest natural disasters in U.S. history, from a death toll standpoint: - The 1900 Galveston hurricane had the single biggest death toll from a natural disaster in U.S. history. Estimates are that between 6,000 and 12,000 people died during that hurricane, and there will be more deaths in the U.S. from COVID this week alone than in that disaster. - The 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane killed 3,389 people in Puerto Rico; we’re on pace to surpass that amount on a daily basis soon. - The 1906 San Francisco earthquake killed ~3,000 people. We are now losing that many people every day. - Hurricane Maria killed 2,982 people in 2017. We’re now losing more people than that every day. Other legendary disasters – the Johnstown flood of 1889 (2,209 dead), the Peshtigo Fire of 1871 (up to 2500 dead), and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (as many as 1,836 dead) – all now are far less than our daily death toll. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/269 "2020-12-10T03:59:22Z")
Well, those comparisons don’t offend me the same way but of course they lose pizzazz in the process. Will that move people? Meh. If I wanted to “shock with numbers” I’d probably go with the fact that 10% of all deaths this year will be covid related. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/270 "2020-12-10T04:06:07Z")
They haven’t? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/271 "2020-12-10T04:19:49Z")
Numbers don’t move people. They’re abstract. Stories and pictures move people. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/272 "2020-12-10T04:28:50Z")
Well, is there some story or picture you think hasn’t been shared enough that would make a change? Frankly, the scare window is closed. People have decided for the most part what they think of this pandemic. This is a story of a broken society not a bad ad campaign strategy. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/273 "2020-12-10T04:52:17Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > As usual conservatives are wildly inconsistent. Which suggest the real reason for them getting up-in-arms over some issue is different than the real reason because the real reason is a shit reason so they try to hide it. Which means they know they are full of shit but go there anyway. **Moderator Note** Let’s keep the politics out of this forum. Colibri ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/274 "2020-12-10T21:00:58Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Numbers don’t move people. They’re abstract. Stories and pictures move people. On the news today there was a pregnant nurse who died of covid. Doesn’t get any worse than that as a story. They also reported on people losing their jobs and business as well as a huge increase in failing grades and increases in suicidal children. Which group is larger?. The number who have died, or the people in need of food, shelter and education. It’s one thing to ask people to stand down for a couple of weeks. It’s another thing to ask people to destroy their lives over the couse of a year because a disease that isn’t harmful to them kills someone else who in most cases can shelter in place away from others. this is a pandemic and we are 8 months into it. It’s not a deadly disease to most people. I know far more people affected financially than I do those who have died. Everybody I know who got it was affected by it like a mild case of the flu. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/275 "2020-12-13T17:30:21Z")
Does anyone watch Flight Aware in their area? I often watch it at night and lately there’s been a lot of activity that I would call unusual. In my area I know where the hospitals are and where they stage the medical helicopters. I’ve seen a lot of unusual movement. Not the usual car accident rescues but hospital to hospital flights. Not sure if it is covid related. Anyway, for the heck of it I zoomed out and looked around the country. I saw 5 of them in the Nashville area last Wednesday or Thursday. Didn’t see anything in the paper on it. Got me wondering. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/277 "2020-12-15T06:47:39Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Hell, consider how much fuss was made over four deaths in Benghazi? (A LOT) One of them was an **ambassador**. Historically that’s started wars. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/278 "2020-12-16T05:08:29Z")
So? What does that have to do with COVID? Want to declare war on COVID? Ok. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/279 "2021-09-16T14:44:25Z")
I know this is an old thread but I just saw this video (below). It seems some hospitals want people to see what happens. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/sJcE6DGkAvg/maxresdefault.jpg "Inside the ICU: An exclusive look inside Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center's intensive care") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJcE6DGkAvg) ---
**Author:** ![Tfletch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tfletch1/32/5340_2.png) [@Tfletch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tfletch1)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2021, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/280 "2021-09-17T03:01:29Z")
Thanks for posting that. Very powerful. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2021, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/281 "2021-09-17T10:45:50Z")
Considering how overwhelmed hospitals are right now, I’ve wondered if it doesn’t get to the point where doctors just let patients die once a ventilator is called for. Their prognosis is so poor once it gets to that point. The resources that a single patient drains is just enormous. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555/282 "2021-09-24T02:46:38Z")
Not so much a ventilator, as ECMO, continuous dialysis, or other forms of life support. These treatments are so often futile when used in adults for other things; I’m not personally familiar with their use in children but they do often work in getting a very sick child through a crisis. Continuous dialysis, AKA CRRT, was something we would do at my old hospital, and the one time we did it and the patient came off it alive, they were readmitted a few days later and died on that admission. It’s often so difficult to know where to draw the line. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-media-rubbed-our-noses-in-covid-deaths-it-might-be-the-thing-that-saves-us/926555.md?page=13)