Supervisor Wagner blames Chinese and Bats for COVID19; Makes False Claims Lockdowns Cause “More Death”

Supervisor and former Irvine Mayor Don Wagner never fails to disappoint when it comes to betraying his alleged Christian values.  A careless Tweet from Wagner in response to a follower places the blame for COVID19 on the Chinese or a Bat and claims lockdowns cause “more death.”

This isn’t true but when have facts gotten in the way of Wagner’s rhetoric?  Critics of lockdowns, like Wagner and other right wingers in OC, argue lockdowns cause more harm COVID19.  However, global health data shows there is actually little evidence that lockdowns cause more death as Wagner suggests.  More on that in a second, as I’m burying the lede here.

Does Wagner really want to blame the Chinese for the spread of COVID?  Wagner’s tweet is offensive in the face of multiple efforts to curb anti-Asian hate which is on the rise in an alarming rate in OC.  Irvine has a considerable percentage of Orange County’s Chinese-American residents.  Just what the hell is Wagner thinking?

From an LA Times article last September:

Hate crimes increased by 35% in Orange County in 2020, the largest annual jump in at least a decade, according to a new report.

Hate-motivated attacks that did not rise to the level of a crime — known as hate incidents — increased by 69%, driven largely by an 19-fold increase in attacks on Asian Americans.

The findings, released Friday by the nonprofit Orange County Human Relations Commission, mirror statewide trends.

A state attorney general’s report found that hate crimes reported to law enforcement rose 31% last year, with attacks against Asians up by 107%.

The Supervisor’s tweet was a swipe at the Governor and progressives who are pro-vaccinations and pro-mask.  COVID doesn’t care what your political affiliation. But blaming COVID19 on the Chinese just throws gasoline on the anti-Asian hate fire and its unacceptable.

On Wagner’s claim lockdowns cause more death, data doesn’t support it.

From The Guardian:  “One key study they examined is called the World Mortality Dataset, an international dataset of all-cause mortality from 94 countries, the researchers found that countries such as New Zealand and Australia experienced no excess mortality last year. In contrast, places with few Covid restrictions such as Brazil, Sweden, Russia and at times parts of the US had large numbers of excess deaths over the course of the pandemic.

“It is … one of the most compelling pieces of evidence to support the notion that the cure was not worse than the disease,” said Yamey. “It does seem that countries that acted quickly and aggressively often had fewer deaths than in previous years. The study showed that lockdown may have reduced annual mortality by up to 6% from eliminating flu transmission alone.”

If you care about getting past this pandemic as fast as possible. And if you recognize blaming COVID on the Chinese adds to hate and violence against Asian-Americans, feel free to tweet your comments to Mr. Wagner at @DonWagnerCA.