Some empirical data from the CDC

The CDC is actually tracking the amount of deaths by several categories, one of them being age. This is one of the empirical points of data that gets washed over by anecdotal stories designed to undermine the actual scientific statistics. Anytime someone brings up the point that this is fatal mainly to old people, someone will tell you a story about the death of a high school student or a healthy person in their thirties, as if those isolated examples proves the statistics wrong.

The numbers from this chart are updated daily, but only include official statistics that include an actual death certificate. Right now, about 40% of what has been reported can be verified via a death certificate. But 40% is certainly enough of a sample to accept the conclusions.

Click to enlarge

Here is the reality:

• approximately 91% of those who are dying are over the age of 55. 
• approximately 8% of those who are dying are between 35-54
• approximately 1% of those who are dying are under the age of 35
• only 12 people under the age of 25 have been confirmed dead via certificate

So I wonder out loud how many stories about those twelve people under twenty five who have died have been passed around and around and around, in order to make people believe that this disease kills people indiscriminately regardless of age. 

The empirical truth is that this disease does not kill indiscriminately.  

To provide a good example of how this works, think about the recent uproar from the left about how a few hundred workers in South Dakota tested positive for Covid-19. The reality is that almost none of them have symptoms. They are simply being tested because they were exposed.  Based on the fact that they are working class age, the statistics provide that about one out of 500 will pass away. Most likely anyone who might pass will have pre-existing conditions that makes them more susceptible to the disease. 

But the idea that a few hundred healthy workers (most under the age of 55) will automatically lead to some sort of devastating death toll is based on the idea that people see the number of daily deaths being reported and think that it's their friends and neighbors rather than their parents, grand parents, or great grand parents. It's because they listen to the emotional anecdotal story, rather than the cold hard empirical statistics.