This isn’t the first study to conclude that hospitalization numbers were off the mark. Two research papers published in May concluded that COVID hospitalization rates for children were inflated by at least 40% for the same reason – many had mild cases or had been admitted to the hospital for unrelated health problems.

Yes, some hospitals are strained by COVID patients. But even that could be the result of the panic being spread. If people with sniffles are rushing to the hospital to get tested for COVID, then admitted for observation, then of course some hospitals will be overrun. (One doctor was recently seen on a leaked Zoom conference call talking to a North Carolina hospital’s director of marketing about exaggerating COVID hospital cases to make it “a little bit more scary for the public.”)

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/09/16/another-covid-fact-turns-out-to-be-a-wild-exaggeration/