This is another attempt to manipulate credible data, which is actually the highest level of disinformation. Namely, one fact that is indisputable and nonetheless most exploited in the scientific community as a strong conclusion is that the risk categories are those with comorbidities or chronic diseases. For example, those infected with COVID-19 who have chronic heart disease problems eventually lose the battle due to cardiovascular failure or heart attack. Furthermore, the same is true for those with chronic bronchitis, where the most common cause of death is lung failure. However, one thing is common to all of these conditions and events, which is that every single one of the victims had been infected by COVID-19, and consequently such manipulations only reinforce conspiracy theories and do not contribute to an effective fight against the coronavirus. Such behavior is irresponsible and can have lasting consequences for the health and safety of citizens.
The world has been hit hard by the coronavirus: lifestyles have been completely changed, and in some countries even paralyzed by this pandemic; thousands of businesses and employees lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic; the number of infected worldwide has risen to 1 million; a large number of casualties have been reported due to the coronavirus. However, for some people, this is all just a lie and part of the narrative that the coronavirus does not exist effectively.One of those people is
Vittorio Sgarbi. He was born on May 8, 1952. A philosopher with a major in Art History who graduated from the University of Bologna, he has worked as a professor of History of Art Techniques at the University of Udine (1984-1988) and a professor of History of Photography at the University of Bologna (1978-1988). He is an art critic who is also a presenter at major international exhibitions, a writer of several bestsellers, a host of several broadcasts that have been sealed in the history of television, a politician, a free thinker with anti-mainstream views and a tireless defender of art and culture. As a politician, he is part of the "Forza Italia" political party, led by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.Mr. Vittorio Sgarbi said on April 25 that Italy had created certain manipulations when it came to the number of coronavirus deaths. In particular, Mr. Sgarby claimed that
"25,000 people did not die from COVID-19, according to the latest figures from the Italian Institute of Public Health. Do not use the dead for rhetoric and terrorism. Data from the Italian Institute of Public Health say 96.3% died from other pathologies.”This is another attempt to manipulate with half-truths, which is actually the highest degree of disinformation. Namely, one fact that is indisputable and nonetheless most exploited in the scientific community as a strong conclusion is that the risk categories are those with comorbidities or chronic diseases. For example, those infected with COVID-19 who have chronic heart disease problems eventually lose the battle due to cardiovascular failure or heart attack. Furthermore, the same is true for those with chronic bronchitis, where the most common cause of death is lung failure. However, one thing is common to all of these conditions and events, which is that every single one of the victims had been infected by COVID-19, and consequently such manipulations only reinforce conspiracy theories and do not contribute to an effective fight against the coronavirus. Such behavior is irresponsible and can have lasting consequences for the health and safety of citizens.One of the most reliable sources of data on the number of cases, whether it is the number of infected, the number of cured, or the number of deaths, is the website
https://www.worldometers.info. On the website itself, whose data is updated in real-time, the number of cases for each country separately is published. Thus, the statistics on 30.4.2020 (Thursday), at 10:22 AM, show that in Italy there are a total of 203,591 cases infected with the coronavirus, of which 27,682 have died, 71,252 have been cured, and 104,657 are active cases. Regarding the way the website worldometers.info publishes and updates the numbers, the following is explained on the webpage itself: for COVID-19 data, we collect data from official reports, directly from the Government's communication channels or indirectly, through local media sources when they are considered credible. We disclose the source of each data update in the "Latest Updates" section. The sources can be accessed at the following
link.It remains unclear how it is possible for a member of the Italian parliament to go public and present figures subject to manipulative interpretation and distortion of the truth, except, of course, with the intention to arouse distrust in the system and institutions. As for the claim that most of the deceased from the coronavirus have been cremated, even that claim should be analyzed with a dose of suspicion. Namely,
while at the beginning of the pandemic out of every 50 deceased, 25 of them chose to be cremated themselves, and 25 were buried in a traditional way, later, with the increased spreading of the virus, many of the dead had to be buried elsewhere or cremated, due to lack of capacity and conditions. This does not say that most of the victims of coronavirus have been cremated due to some conspiracy or ulterior motives, that is, that claim is at least debatable and must also be treated with a dose of suspicion. In his speech, the MP used this factual situation to manipulate the public again by twisting the facts.Finally, the most common way of causing distrust in the system and the institutions is when manipulatively interpreting credible data, thus giving the public a dose of certainty that the person claiming something is right, unfortunately, in most cases, such claims, apart from the damage they cause, have nothing to do with the attempts to overcome a particular situation and protect the public interest. Read whole texts and not just headlines, check before you share.
