Washinton Post contradicts itself: Once said: “The flu is a much bigger threat than coronavirus,” now calling others “coronavirus deniers” for the same thing it once said

Last week, we wrote a story about MIT Biologist, Dr. Shiva after he accused the media of panicking people saying: “Fear mongering on coronavirus will go down as biggest fraud to manipulate economies. Then yesterday, a leading Israeli virologist and infectious disease expert slams ‘unnecessary and exaggerated panic’ about coronavirus and urges world leaders to calm public. Unknown to many, the mainstream media that is now causing public fear and panic, once said something similar. One major newspaper said that “the flu is a much bigger threat than coronavirus.”

What a difference one month makes! On February 1, Washington Post wrote a piece titled: “Get a grippe, America. The flu is a much bigger threat than coronavirus, for now.” To support his point, Washington Post reporter Lenny Bernstein, argues that the flu poses the bigger and more pressing peril.  “But this year, a new coronavirus from China has focused attention on diseases that can sweep through an entire population, rattling the public despite the current magnitude of the threat. Clearly, the flu poses the bigger and more pressing peril; a handful of cases of the new respiratory illness have been reported in the United States, none of them fatal or apparently even life-threatening,” Bernstein said.

To further support his point, Bernstein cited CDC data saying: “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 8.6 million to 12 million people have visited health-care providers complaining of influenza-like symptoms, such as fever, coughing, sneezing and aches since the flu season began Oct. 1. As many as 310,000 have been hospitalized, and 68 children have died.”

Then yesterday, March 19, Washington Post wrote a story titled: “Coronavirus deniers and hoaxers persist despite dire warnings, claiming ‘it’s mass hysteria.” The newspaper started the article with the story of “a Walmart worker named Brandon Crist was growing frustrated with the panic terrorizing the American public.” Washington Post went on to attack Crist and others like him, calling them “Virus deniers and Virus hoaxers” simply for asking about the cause of coronavirus panic and fears, the same thing Washington Post said was not a bigger threat back in its February 1 story.

In closing, coronavirus is real, deadly and lethal. However, with announcement that doctors have found two anti-malarial drugs Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine show early promising results in treating coronavirus patients, we think people are better served with facts and not fear and panic. In addition, scientists and researchers around the world are also making progress in the development of vaccine for the deadly coronavirus. In the end, the best way for mainstream media to be relevant is to be objective, not be the problem, and become part of the solution.