The media claimed COVID-19 had a death rate of 3.4%.
Posted by The Kuhner Report, Checked
- Sources
- 4 support2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 80%
The Kuhner ReportOct 7, 2026
Media outlets did widely report the WHO's 3.4% figure, so the claim that the media put forward a 3.4% death rate is supported.
The host disputes this claim, but we rate it true. Disputing it counts against the post, like a false claim.
What was said
… And the media pushed this, knowing it was a bald faced, disgusting lie, and it tore this country apart. They then pushed the lie about COVID, that it was essentially an apocalyptic plague with a death rate of 3.4%, and they sent the entire country into absolute terror, terror to the point that they locked us down. And you know, lockdown means what you do in a prison: you lock down the prisoners. And that's the term they used, lockdown. …
The Kuhner Report · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. The New York Times, The Hill and Al Jazeera all reported the WHO's March 3, 2020 statement that about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases had died.[4][5]
Supports. Vox reports that media around the world quickly interpreted the 3.4% figure as evidence the disease was deadlier than feared.[2]
Supports. Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch writes that some in the news media mistook the 3.4% statement as an alarming 3.4% mortality risk for infections overall.[3]
Context. PolitiFact and The Conversation explain that 3.4% was a case fatality rate on confirmed cases, not the infection fatality rate, and that the true rate was expected to differ.[1][6]
Context. The claim omits the 'reported cases' qualifier and the post's framing that the media were lying; the sources support the reporting but not the characterization of it as a deliberate lie.[1][3]
Sources
6 sources: 1 fact-checker, 2 tier 2, 3 not rated
- 1Why calculating the coronavirus death rate is difficultpolitifact.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 2Did the coronavirus get more deadly? The death rate, explained. - Voxvox.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 3Opinion | Why it’s so hard to pin down the risk of dying from coronaviruswashingtonpost.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports, context
- 4Mortality Rate Placed At 3.4%, But Some Experts Say That's A 'Crudely Calculated' Snapshot That Will Change - KFF Health Newskffhealthnews.org · not rated · cited for: supports
- 5Coronavirus deadlier than flu, but containable: WHO - Al Jazeeraaljazeera.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 6How deadly is the coronavirus? The true fatality rate is tricky to find, but researchers are getting closertheconversation.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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