Dr Phil says US should reopen despite soaring coronavirus casualties, gets slammed
The USA has been severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic and as a precaution, president Trump had called for a nation-wide shutdown while also declaring a state of national emergency, last month. At present, discussions pertaining to reopening the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which is still at an all-time high, have ensued and various doctors were called upon for interviews, including Dr Phil McGraw.
Appearing on 'The Ingraham Angle' on Fox News on April 16, Dr Phil expressed his disappointment at the country shutting down because of the virus, especially when there have been deaths due to other causes. He also touched up the issues that people have been facing during the lockdown, including depression, which he said will "actually cause more destruction and more death across time than the virus itself.”
He then went on to talk about the economic fallout from the lockdown measures that he said would last for years and also compared the coronavirus casualties to deaths due to car accidents, smoking cigarettes and drowning in swimming pools, spouting some statistics to justify his statement. However, his statistics were erroneous.
Dr Phil who spoke to Laura Ingraham via a Skype video call said "250 people a year die from poverty. And the poverty line is getting such that more and more people are going to fall below that because the economy is crashing around us. And they’re doing that because people are dying from the coronavirus. I get that."
"But look, the fact that the matter is we have people dying, 45,000 people a year die from automobile accidents, 480,000 from cigarettes, 360,000 a year from swimming pools, but we don’t shut the country down for that but yet we’re doing it for this? And the fallout is going to last for years because people’s lives are being destroyed," he added.
Dr Phil's numbers were nowhere close to the actual figures. The United States has not hit the 45,000 death mark for automobile crashes in more than a decade and although the annual total has increased, it roughly closes in on 40,000 per year. His swimming pool stats, however, were way off. He said 360,000 people die each year due to drowning in swimming pools but that is not the case. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data compiled between 2005 and 2014, an average of 3,536 people succumbed to unintentional drowning (ie not suicide or murder) each year. The CDC's information includes death by drowning in other water bodies, besides swimming pools as well.
His comment didn't sit well with many and Dr Phil came under fire on Twitter for allegedly downplaying the pandemic and speaking in favor of reopening the country when it is yet to figure out control measure. He was also slammed for delivering incorrect statistics. Dr Phil was trending on Twitter, as users made comparisons of his comments with those of Dr Oz, who earlier that day had suggested that schools should reopen because there was only a 2 percent mortality rate reported. His comments also resonated with President Trump's comment last month, on the coronavirus being similar to the seasonal flu.
"Dr Phil voluntarily relinquished his medical license after several run-ins with Texas medical regulations. He is currently licensed to practice in zero (0) states", ProPublica journalist, Jessica Huseman tweeted. In another tweet, she added, "Honestly one of the better things about ALL OF THIS is that TV doctors have all revealed their true idiocy.”
Charlotte Clymer, a writer, poked fun at Dr Phil's words: "To those finding out Dr Phil is a hack -- welcome to the party! We have snacks."
"Never a bad time to point out that Dr. Phil is not a licensed doc and has done some real shady things in the past," added Robert Littal of TMZ Sports.
As of April 17, the John Hopkins COVID-19 Tracker has reported 671,425 confirmed cases and 33,286 fatalities.