Lacorte News Dr. Marc Siegel, a medical contributor at Fox News, claimed Wednesday that the increase in hospitalization rates is not because of a spike in severe coronavirus cases.
The story: Siegel appeared on Wednesday on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Show” where he discussed the current situation of the coronavirus pandemic. Carlson pointed out that Texas is reporting all coronavirus cases in hospitals but that not everyone who has tested positive for the virus is being treated for the disease.
“It doesn’t seem honest. What’s going on?” Carlson asked.
Siegels’ remarks: Siegel noted that the increase in coronavirus cases in the southern and western states has been “widely reported” in the media, but he suggested they’re leaving out important information, including that the majority of people who tested positive for the virus are younger individuals who have milder symptoms.
“As the case counts are going up, the death rate remains under 700 for every 24 hours per day of new cases. Why? Why is that?” Siegel said.
“Because most of the people that are getting COVID-19 now are young people and the CDC just released a statistic that again was not reported that of the last 15,000 deaths from COVID-19, only 3.9% were under the ages of 44 years old. The same group that’s now spreading it in Miami or spreading it in Austin, Texas, or spreading it in Phoenix. That group has mild cases.”
He then said that reports claiming hospitals are reaching their capacities are omitting the fact that the majority of patients are not being admitted for coronavirus.
“It’s been widely reported that the hospitalization rate has been going up, but it’s not reported that it’s not mostly COVID-19. It’s actually the cases that were there because of the reopening, because they are now getting the elective surgeries they need – cancer operations, heart disease operations, hernia operations – they are filling the hospitals. Only COVID-19 is actually getting in the way of all of that because these mild cases require isolation.”
Siegel said that the jump in cases among the younger population is a result of them “bursting the bonds of all this” because of the depression and anxiety caused by “excessive lockdowns.”
He concluded that it all comes down to politics.
“So tell me, let me ask a question. Why is that whole story not being reported as I’m trying to do? The answer is one word, Tucker. Politics. And I’m here to cut through the politics and bring you the science, to report on the science.”
