Why No One Trusts “Experts” (or the Media)

Alright, let’s take in two news stories out over the last 48 hours, one from the well-regarded Nature magazine, and another reported this morning by NPR on the same World Health Organization (WHO?) study:

Mounting evidence suggests coronavirus is airborne — but health advice has not caught up

Converging lines of evidence indicate that SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, can pass from person to person in tiny droplets called aerosols that waft through the air and accumulate over time. After months of debate about whether people can transmit the virus through exhaled air, there is growing concern among scientists about this transmission route. . .

Now for the NPR story:

WHO: Airborne Transmission Plays Limited Role In Coronavirus Spread

The World Health Organization has issued a new scientific brief that summarizes what’s known about the different ways the coronavirus can transmit.

The 10-page brief, posted Thursday, considers all the ways researchers think the coronavirus may be able to spread: through close contact with droplets expelled when an infected person coughs, sneezes, speaks or breathes; through the expulsion of small microdroplets that have the potential to spread over greater distances; and through contaminated surfaces.

Weighing the evidence, WHO maintains that the virus is mostly spread through close contact with infected people but calls for more research into the matter of transmission by aerosolized particles.

Actually, these stories don’t contradict each other as directly as the headlines would indicate, but this merely displays the persistent incompetence of our news media, repeated across just about every subject. Why pay attention to the media when the “experts” are equivocal and uncertain?

Speaking of which, The Federalist is on to what may turn out to be a major media scandal:

NBC Contributor Reveals He Never Tested Positive For COVID After Network Followed His Alleged Recovery

After NBC News extensively followed the COVID-19 case of its own on-air contributor Dr. Joseph Fair, the virologist and epidemiologist revealed he tested negative for coronavirus as well as negative for the WuFlu antibodies, meaning he never had the virus. . .

The Federalist reports that Fair tested negative for COVID-19 five times, but NBC has yet to reveal that fact. Talk about fake news! This story is still developing. . .

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