Coronavirus misinformation is now seriously hurting America as the establishment media hypes case numbers as the only measure. Take a look at this from CNN recently:
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Today, the country recorded the most new cases in a single day, 58,699. Shameful. It feels like that we're back at the beginning of this pandemic.
What are you talking about? As you open up, cases go up!
DR. TOM FRIEDEN: CORONAVIRUS HAS THE UPPER HAND, BUT WE CAN STILL STOP THE VIRUS
Do you think cases aren't going up in other countries as they reopen? Of course, they are. They're just not testing asymptomatic people on the scale we are here.
As you open up, of course, hospitalizations go up. Sick people kept out of hospitals because of the shutdowns now finally getting treated.
And of course, if you jump overnight to the final stage of all the reopening plans, large gatherings, you get a massive increase in cases.
Now, who did that? Who gave the go-ahead for large gatherings long before the virus was under control?
No, not the evil Trump. It was you, Mayor Bill de Blasio. It was you, Mayor Eric Garcetti. It was you, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and all the rest around the country cheered on by thousand doctors, and every two-face cynical liar on CNN and MSNBC.
When it's a large gathering for Trump in, I don't know -- Tulsa -- to pick a random example -- that's an irresponsible health risk that will send cases skyrocketing.
But when it's a large gathering for police reform, which as you know, I support, obviously, that's got nothing to do with cases rising.
I mean, what possible connection could there be between large gatherings of young people and coronavirus spreading amongst young people?
But for the media, facts are just lies.
Here's more from CNN:
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We are so deep down into a well of lies. It is hard to even realize how dark this is.
Dark?! It's totally Orwellian.
Anderson Cooper literally calls his lying rants, "Keeping Them Honest."
I don't know if he is even worth trying to keep him honest. After all, he's now effectively on Joe Biden's campaign staff, but just in case he goes.
The one measure you'll never see on CNN or MSNBC is the only one that really matters. The only one that is actually a fair description of what's going on -- and that is deaths per capita.
Here's the actual data. The U.K., Spain, Italy in France, not to mention Belgium and a few others, those countries are all doing worse than we are in America.
Andrew Cuomo's New York rate, fawningly praised by the idiots in the media, is nearly 10 times worse than Ron DeSantis' Florida.
The supposed disaster zones of Arizona and Texas, also at the bottom of the list, but sure, blame Trump and Republican governance for the worst outbreak by far.
And blame him, too, even when what he says is what an actual doctor says.
More from Opinion
Ninety-nine percent of people who get infected says the Hoover Institution's Dr. Scott Atlas, in fact, have no significant problem with the infection. And who are those who really have no significant problem with the infection? Children. Children under 18 make up 5.9 percent of U.S. cases and children under 14 just 0.03 percent of deaths.
Yet still, we see officials across the country debating whether to reopen schools in the fall. The risk to children from coronavirus is a fraction of the risk from flu every single year. No one ever talked about closing schools for that.
People say, okay, children may not get seriously ill from this virus, but they might pass it on to their families.
Really? In one study they write, "We have not found a single instance of a child infecting parents."
They lecture about contact tracing. Well, they did it for a boy with coronavirus. He came into contact with 172 classmates and teachers while symptomatic and didn't transmit the disease to any of them, not one out of 172 people.
In Switzerland, the country's head of infectious disease says "scientists now know young children don't transmit the virus."
Because of all of this, countless other countries, starting with Denmark, had already begun reopening schools before the summer break.
When the president pointed that out this week, the idiots said, ah, but we have thousands of new cases a day and Denmark doesn't.
But Denmark reopened schools months ago.
If you equalize for population size and testing rates, there's nothing like the difference in case numbers between the U.S. now and Denmark then, and the data shows that reopening schools didn't worsen their outbreak at all, and yet here in America, summer camps are closed and school plans are in doubt.
This is not safe. It's harming our children.
Almost a third of parents say their children's emotional and mental health is suffering. Another third worry that it'll start hurting their children soon.
It's hurting their education and their future prospects, too.
The evidence is piling up that remote learning doesn't work, especially for the poorest families and those in rural areas with unreliable internet.
And perhaps, worst of all, we're seeing reports of a rise in child abuse. Beyond the impact on children, there's the impact on our economy. If kids can't go to school, parents can't go to work. Here is a farmer from Minnesota this week.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The really big question mark right now is whether there'll be school here this fall. Because harvest season -- almost more than planting -- is all hands on deck. That would be really, really difficult to manage both kids with no childcare.
And by the way, schools open one day a week or three days a week or in the morning or the afternoon or whatever other pseudo-scientific bureaucratic claptrap they come up with. It's still a disaster.
Responding to New York's one to three-day week plan, the leading employers' group was crystal clear, people will not be able to go back to work.
Australia gets all of this. Its deputy chief medical officer said the evidence does not support avoiding classroom learning as a means to control COVID.
In Canada, they get all this. Experts at the Toronto Children's Hospital called for opening schools with no restrictions. Masks, they say if worn incorrectly, it could lead to increased risk of infection, and it's not practical for a child to wear a mask properly for the duration of a school day.
Strict physical distancing, they say, should not be emphasized to children in a school setting as it is not practical and could cause significant psychological harm.
In line with all those medical experts, President Trump gets all this. Here's what he said:
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools, to get them open, and it's very important. It's very important for our country. It's very important for the well-being of the student and the parents.
But with all this damage, all this pain and all this scientific evidence, still there isn't a clear back to school instruction from the CDC, from the people we're told to trust.
Still, they witter on about an abundance of caution or risk aversion; still, they trot out their weasel words to cover their you know what. Here's Dr. Fauci this week:
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The broad approach would be obviously, but paying attention to the safety of the children, which is always paramount, but within the context of doing whatever you can to safeguard the health and the welfare of the children, we should try to get the schools open.
In Denmark, they are definitive. In Australia, in Canada, in England, in Switzerland, in Iceland for goodness sake!
So, why is our own CDC, preposterously praised by the media as the best public health agency in the world, still hemming and hawing on these vital questions when other countries have done the research and published clear conclusions.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER
What have you been doing Dr. Redfield? You've had January, February, March, April, May, June. No wonder the president is forcing the pace. Of course, he is right to use the leverage of federal money. But frankly, that is a small proportion.
And by the way, rightly so, we believe in decentralization on this show. And we believe above all in people power.
It's time to use it over this schools fiasco.
If your child's school won't open this fall, demand your money back so you can find an alternative. It's your child. It's your tax dollars.
Why should you pay for a service you're not getting? That's our new campaign, reopen schools or give me my school money back.
Take it to the courts. Fight for your rights and your money.
Tell your school board. Tell your mayor. Tell your school board. Tell your governor.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
If you won't open my child's school, I want my school money back. Stand up to these bureaucrats. Get it going. Share this message.
To do that, please follow us @SteveHiltonx and @NextRevFNC.
Adapted from Steve Hilton's monologue on "The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton" on July 12, 2020.
Best of Opinion
Get the recap of top opinion commentary and original content throughout the week.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.