How many lives have to be lost to “satisfy” Fox News and it’s viewers that the COVID-19 pandemic is actually a problem anyone should take seriously?

Brian Kilmeade of Fox & Friends is outraged that the country has been shut down—some states more than others—for a measly 100,000+ dead and for what he claims is “only” a 0.3 percent mortality rate from the COVID-19. Where is the 2.2 million dead that was supposed to occur from the virus in this country? "We're all frustrated by what the scientists told us, we're all frustrated by the graph that didn't pan out. When we definitely noticed the seriousness when almost 100,000 Americans die. But what I took from the Dr. Siegel math was, 0.3% — not even 3%, 0.3%. We've shut down an entire country for 0.3% of those who get it lose their lives," Kilmeade proclaimed. 

Fox News, Fox News. Do we really expect (outside of its devoted fan base) actual dissemination of reality? Fact check time: The 2.2 million projected deaths, which was also enunciated by Donald Trump, was based on numbers provided by the London Imperial College, which projected that number of deaths in the U.S. if no action was taken to halt its spread.  Soon afterward it reduced the projection to 100,000 to 240,000 if steps were taken to do so—a number which Trump also repeated. No one has been talking about 2 million deaths for at least two months, so clearly Kilmeade is playing simple-minded partisan political games here. If anything, actions taken by governors like Andrew Cuomo have at the very least kept things from getting much worse than they already are, no thanks to Trump and Fox News ignoramuses like Kilmeade and the “Big Three”—Carlson, Ingraham and Hannity.

What “graph” is Kilmeade talking about? I’m sure most people have no clue what he is talking about, and very likely he knows even less about it. One thing we do know that is the death toll went up from practically none in mid-March to over 100,000 now. If there is a graph, it would show a line going practically straight skyward, and has yet to trend downward. Far from being based on "guesswork," a 240,000 top-end death projection seems more than realistic by the end of the year.

But perhaps even worse is Kilmeade’s claim of only a 0.3 mortality rate. This again shows not just the dangerous ignorance of right-wing commentators, but kind of dangerously ignorant information that Fox News viewers are being fed. Kilmeade is not telling us the mortality rate of those testing positive for the COVID-19; his 0.3 percent is per the total population. Currently at this moment according to Worldometers,  1.773 million people in the U.S. have tested positive for the virus, and over 103,540 have died. That is an actual mortality rate of nearly 6 percent—20 times Kilmeade’s claim. If everyone in the U.S. tested positive for the COVID-19, then the “projected” death count would be close to 20 million—ten times the London Imperial College numbers.

Kilmeade, of course, made the weak admission that every death is “unfortunate,” but like the rest of his colleagues at Fox News his interest is partisan politics. Fox News revels in its claim to be  Trump’s principle  “advisor” in policy matters, having long shed its claim to be “fair and balanced”—even Hannity has confessed that he believes there is nothing wrong with being unfair and unbalanced in his commentary. Fox News is apparently terrified of Trump losing the election, because there will be no one else like him to boost its ratings. Ratings for more death seems to be a “projection” that Fox News can live with.