Here are some important numbers that shed light on reality and perception. I strongly encourage you to read the article on the study.
From a
Franklin Templeton-Gallup research project (as of July 22,2020):
"Six months into this pandemic, Americans still dramatically misunderstand the risk of dying from COVID-19:
- On average, Americans believe that people aged 55 and older account for just over half of total COVID-19 deaths; the actual figure is 92%.
- Americans believe that people aged 44 and younger account for about 30% of total deaths; the actual figure is 2.7%.
- Americans overestimate the risk of death from COVID-19 for people aged 24 and younger by a factor of 50; and they think the risk for people aged 65 and older is half of what it actually is (40% vs 80%)."
And... "Our poll results identify two major culprits: the quality of information and the extreme politicization of the COVID-19 debate:
- People who get their information predominantly from social media have the most erroneous and distorted perception of risk.
- Those who identify as Democrats tend to mistakenly overstate the risk of death from COVID-19 for younger people much more than Republicans."
Also, from a raw numbers standpoint as of 8/22/2020. I want to highlight for those opting out, that there are only
330 deaths from COVID across the entire school-aged demographic. Of working age Americans, there were only
33,595 deaths from COVID (which includes all of the borderline determinations as well).
Total deaths attributed to COVID-19: 161,392
0-24: 330
25-34: 1,241
35-44: 3,228
45-54: 8,501
55-64: 20,295
65-74: 34,334
75-84: 42,587
85+: 50,867