Thread by @kurteichenwald

1. Trump has again misled USA about coronavirus - from ignorance or for propaganda purposes, I don't know. But his falsehoods again increase risk of a major epidemic, because people don't know if they should take precautions, or if this is no big deal.

Here were his words....

2...."Healthy individuals should be able to fully recover....They should be able to recover, should they contract the virus. So healthy people, if you’re healthy, you will probably go through a process, and you’ll be fine.”

The research so far does not show this. While...

3...it is clear that, as with every respiratory viral disease, the elderly and the sick are more at risk of death, this does NOT mean that healthy people are at no risk of death (data coming up.) However, the bigger thing: This is not solely about death. People are being put....

4...in intensive care for weeks because of the magnitude of the illness. If the number of people sick escalates - which again, is more likely as Trump keeps trying to manipulate understanding of what is going on in a transparent effort (dumb one) to counter stock market fall....

4...so, what data do we actually have? The first set of data came out 4 days ago in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It is analysis of Chinese outbreak - since that is the place with the most data - by experts on the ground. What they have found is that there....

5...are different variants of the disease (for reasons we do not know yet). There are 72,000 cases in China as of 2/11. One percent - or 889 - are asymptomatic (which is why you don't use anecdote to say "this one guy has no symptoms so it's no big deal" @TeamCavuto. Anecdote...

@TeamCavuto 6...is statistically irrelevant.)

In the spectrum of the disease, people with mild infection make up 81%, severe is 14% and critical is 5%. There is a death rate of 2.3% - but 49% of people with critical do die. And before you go "oh, 2.3% is no big deal...."

@TeamCavuto 7...the 1918 flu that killed more people than both world wars combined had a death rate of 2%. PLUS, that had an incubation period of 2-3 days. This is 14 days, meaning many folks with it can be out infecting people for 2 weeks before seeing any symptoms.).....

@TeamCavuto 8....so, at this point there is NO data backing up what Trump says as to who comes down with critical, who with severe, and who with mild. Medical histories are hard to come by in rural China. But, a cohort that could be used as representative is Chinese medical personnel....

@TeamCavuto 9...they are exposed to a lot of disease all the time, which means they statistically have higher immunity rates for many diseases. There is no immunity for this one in anyone. Incredibly sick people do not go work in the hospital. They are just exposed in the same way....

@TeamCavuto 10...everyone who doesn't take precautions would be if there was a mass pandemic. So, what is the data on medical personnel? 3.8 percent of medical personnel are infected. Of those, 14.8 percent have either severe or critical infection. And now the first death of medical....

@TeamCavuto 11...personnel are being reported.

I am not saying this stuff to attack Trump - although I am furious at him for his recklessness an refusal to take this as being serious or about a health crisis instead of being about him. But when he gives happy words assuring people....

@TeamCavuto 12...either that they will be fine if they are healthy - something that the only data available suggests is false - or calls it a hoax, he is undermining public health information about how to take the precautions that will decrease the risk of epidemic.

Again, none of this....

@TeamCavuto 13...means we will have a large-scale epidemic or pandemic, or mass deaths. But it is little different than if Trump got on a stage and said "The idea that driving while drunk is dangerous is a hoax" or "If you're a good driver and drive while drunk, you should be fine."....

@TeamCavuto 14...could those end up being true? Sure - for a short time. If COVID-19 burns out fast, just like if everyone drove drunk for one night, the consequences could be small. *But you don't act against common, tested practice in public health by giving false assurances, because it...

@TeamCavuto 15...increases the probability of a mass breakout.

Two more things: People who are smokers are at higher risk than many people - even if you are healthy. So wash your hands obsessively and dont go out if you can avoid it.

Last - remember the hysteria about Ebola? One of the...

@TeamCavuto 16...people in the United States who contracted it - and who died - was in a hospital walking distance from my house. The person two doors down from my house worked at that hospital. And I said "Meh." Why? Because I wasn't licking people's vomit up off the floor. Transmission...

@TeamCavuto 17...of ebola is not easy if you stay away from everyone's bodily fluid. So, the Republicans back then were screaming hysterically rather than just letting the message get out that "here are the two things you need to do to not get it."

COVID-19 is the opposite. It gets on....

@TeamCavuto 18...people's hands if they touch a doorknob already touched by someone who is asymptomatic but infected. If someone coughs in their hand & 10 minutes later shakes yours, you can be infected. This is not a "lick up vomit" transmission - it's a "touch something, touch your face"..

@TeamCavuto 19...and you can get sick. Also - evidence is developing that the virus sheds in urine *even after someone seems to have recovered.* That means public restrooms can be dangerous, so you MUST wash your hands after using one and use a paper towel in pulling on the door handle....

@TeamCavuto 20...this stuff is not hard. But our leaders are so busy trying to stop a market slide or avoid taking blame for incompetence that they are escalating the risk with every word they speak. So, take precautions. Go to @WHO to learn them all. In fact....

@TeamCavuto @WHO 21...go to this information page (something whitehouse.gov STILL doesnt have) to learn precautions.

who.int/emergencies/di…

If you take reasonable precautions, this can turn out fine. If you believe Trump & co and ignore this, you could die and bring others with you.