{"id":427811,"date":"2020-04-18T04:35:14","date_gmt":"2020-04-18T11:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=427811"},"modified":"2024-10-28T11:50:15","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T18:50:15","slug":"drowning-prevention-facts-figures-after-tv-docs-get-coronavirus-debate-drubbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/drowning-prevention-facts-figures-after-tv-docs-get-coronavirus-debate-drubbing\/","title":{"rendered":"Drowning Prevention, Facts & Figures After ‘TV Docs’ Get Coronavirus Debate Drubbing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Commentary<\/i><\/p>\n

As “TV doctors” in the United States come under fire for their use of statistics in the debate over what next in the coronavirus pandemic, one man’s mistake is an opportunity to remind ourselves of the importance of drowning prevention, the facts and figures and where to go to find them<\/span><\/p>\n

Drowning found itself at the heart of the coronavirus debate this week after Phil \u201cDr. Phil\u201d McGraw<\/strong>,\u00a0an American television personality and\u00a0former psychologist who host an eponymous TV show, said there were 360,000 annual deaths in pools in the United States.<\/p>\n

He later apologised, saying he \u201cmisspoke\u201d and was quoting annual worldwide drowning figures.<\/p>\n

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The ‘novel coronavirus 2019- CoV’ explained by the World Health Organisation – Photo Courtesy: WHO, YouTube<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2017, official figures placed U.S. deaths from accidental drowning or submersion at 3,709. That statistic includes tragedies in water beyond pools.<\/p>\n

Dr Phil was roundly criticised not so much for making the significant mistake he made on the numbers but because he used the figure when discussing the impact and mortality rate – now topping 37, 000 in in the U.S. – from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The criticism, which included the fact that drowning is neither infectious nor contagious, while deaths by drowning are spread across whole years and do not runs to the tens of thousands in a matter of a few weeks, rippled from medical experts to media.<\/p>\n

Arthur Caplan<\/strong>, the founding head of the division of medical ethics at the New York University School of Medicine, called comparison between coronavirus COVID-19 and other more common causes of death “ridiculous, ill-grounded, and actually dangerous”. Caplan added:<\/p>\n

“The issue isn\u2019t how many people die of car crashes or swimming pool accidents or strokes or whatever. The question is whether they all happen at once and overwhelm the health care system.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The controversy was covered by CNN among other networks in the United States, including ‘TV doctors” being pulled up by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. <\/a><\/p>\n

The story rippled far out from the U.S.\u00a0The Guardian<\/em> in the United Kingdom<\/a>, as well as many other European media outlets also picked up the story.\u00a0The Guardian article runs under the headline “No match for Dr Fauci \u2013 are TV Doctors like Dr Phil causing more harm than good?”<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr Phil was advocating reopening the economy and made his statistical error in the midst of rattling off a string of statistics about other causes of death that are not accompanied by lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders. McGraw told Fox News<\/em> host Laura Ingraham<\/em>:<\/p>\n

“The fact of 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.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

McGraw later acknowledged that he had offered “bad examples”.<\/p>\n

Drowning Prevention – Awereness, facts and figures<\/h3>\n
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Photo Courtesy: American Red Cross<\/p><\/div>\n

In terms of drowning, here are the facts we know according to the official figures from organisations including The American Red Cross<\/strong> and, on a Global; level, the World Health Organisation (WHO)<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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The Red Cross notes:<\/p>\n

Drowning Is a Leading Cause of Death for Children in the United States<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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