One reason Americans are afraid of the latest Covid wave is that we hear health experts and the media reporting hospitals filling with patients – especially children – who are testing positive.

That’s scary but highly misleading. Hospitalization counts artificially inflate severe health problems due to Covid. Lots of people incidentally test positive while they are in the hospital for some other reason.

Consider this misleading story from NBC News, which reports what’s happening correctly, but only if you read past the misleading fear-hype headline proclaiming “Child Covid hospitalizations Are Up.” The story notes:

“We test anybody who’s admitted to the hospital for whatever reason to see whether or not they have Covid, and we’re definitely seeing an increase in cases. However, we’re really not seeing an increase in children who are hospitalized FOR Covid or in the intensive care unit for Covid,” Offit said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/child-covid-hospitalizations-are-5-states-are-rise-rcna10089

Or this story from the Miami Herald, which runs numbers that every newspaper in America should get from the local hospital systems:

“Of the 212 inpatients with COVID-19 reported at Jackson Health, 127 or 60% were diagnosed after being admitted for another reason.”

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article256878197.html

Even CDC Director Rochell Walensky admitted this morning that hospitalization counts are stoking unnecessary fears: