There is no evidence that the Amish have had fewer deaths from Covid – 06/06/2023 – Health

There is no evidence that Amish communities have had “30 times fewer” deaths from Covid-19 than the rest of the population for not following health authorities’ recommendations, such as social distancing, mask wearing and vaccination against the disease.

Amish communities are averse to vaccination as well as technology in general, which means they have been less tested for the disease. As a result, as verified by the Comprova Project, there is no conclusive data regarding the pandemic among members of this group. However, a study by the United States CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) confirmed that the virus arrived and spread in this population, making people sick.

Since there is no Covid-19 mortality data aggregated by religious group, there is no way to know exactly how many Amish have died in the United States. A study based on obituaries published in the press, however, indicates that mortality in some communities of this type followed the same trend as the rest of the country.

Although they did not seek the vaccine, reports published in the traditional press show that, in the most critical period of the pandemic, the Amish followed other preventive measures, such as social distancing.

In addition, the post, analyzed here, says that the Amish would have recorded 30 times fewer deaths from Covid-19 than the rest of the United States. However, there is a mathematical problem with this construction, since an object once smaller than itself already means zero.

False, for Comprova, is content that was invented or that has been edited to change its original meaning and deliberately disseminated to spread a falsehood.

Reach

Comprova investigates suspicious content with greater reach on social networks. As of June 5, the analyzed tweet already had more than 112,000 views, 6,000 likes and 1,800 shares.

How do we check

The first step was to search for news related to the Amish and the pandemic. The CDC website was also consulted to see if there was specific data about the Amish and the coronavirus. Finally, the author of the tweet and the Tribuna Nacional website were contacted.

Verification

The Amish are a Christian group that seeks to live isolated from modern society. The idea is to recreate the way of life in the 17th century, when the Mennonite Church was created by the Swiss Jakob Amman. In this way, they avoid the use of technologies, including smartphones, televisions and cars. The Amish live primarily in isolated communities across the United States and Canada.

It is estimated that there are around 360,000 people living in Amish communities in the United States, most of them in the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana.

The Amish and Covid-19

There is no official statistical data on Covid-19 cases and deaths in religious communities. Likewise, there are no official data on vaccination of these groups.

But according to a peer-reviewed study by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at West Virginia University published in the Journal of Religion and Health, deaths in Amish communities from Covid-19 followed the same trends as the rest of the United States. United. The researchers point out that, as Amish groups are averse to technology, the trend is that they have been tested less for Covid-19. However, using obituaries published in newspapers, the study was able to detect a 125% increase in the average number of deaths among the Amish during the pandemic. The trend is similar to that of the rest of the United States.

In May 2022, Al-Jazeera covered an Amish community in Ohio. According to the report, Holmes County Health District officials declined to speak with the publication, however, the total number of deaths reported in 2020 and 2021 in the county increased by nearly a third compared to 2019. According to the article , as in other communities, this increase is likely attributed to Covid-19.

Already according to a June 2021 article by the Associated Press, during the first months of the pandemic, the Amish followed social distancing guidelines and stopped gathering in churches and funerals.

Still according to the same text, in 2021, cases fell. “Relying on possible herd immunity when little testing has been done among the Amish is risky,” said Esther Chernak, director of the Center for Public Health Preparedness and Communication at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

However, the community faces resistance to being vaccinated against the disease. Most say they’ve had the virus and don’t see the need to be vaccinated, said Mark Raber, who is Amish and a member of a settlement in Daviess County, Indiana, which has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the state.

In April 2020, a survey was conducted assessing vaccination patterns and beliefs in Amish families. The questionnaire was sent to 1,000 Amish families.

The response rate was 39%. Among 391 respondents, 59% did not vaccinate their children. The ultraconservative Amish most often rejected vaccines. Research carried out a decade earlier in the same community had revealed that 14% refused all vaccines.

The 2020 survey also found that Amish children with a disability were more likely to receive vaccinations than Amish children without disabilities. Among respondents, 75% responded that they would reject a Covid-19 vaccine. Fear of adverse effects was the most common reason for rejection.

Families who accepted vaccines were more likely to cite a health professional as the main influence for getting vaccinated. Wives were more likely to cite their spouse as the main reason for getting immunized.

According to current data from the CDC, 65% of the population of Ohio, where this Amish community is located, received at least one dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 and 60% were vaccinated with two doses.

Best form of protection

According to WHO, it is preferable to vaccinate against Covid-19 than to become infected with the disease. That’s because “vaccines build immunity without the harmful effects that disease can have, including the long-term effects and death. Allowing the disease to spread could cause millions of deaths and even more people living with the long-term effects of the disease.” virus”.

According to PAHO (Pan American Health Organization), in the four weeks after infection, between 90% and 99% of individuals infected with the Sars-CoV-2 virus develop detectable neutralizing antibodies. However, the duration of this immune response can vary from three months to five years, that is, there is the possibility of reinfection or the patient contracting another strain of the virus against which he has not yet developed immunity.

What the person responsible for the publication says

The author of the tweet was contacted by private message and the Tribuna Nacional website by email. Neither responded until this verification was published.

What can we learn from this check

Content like this is aimed at discrediting governments, public health organizations and researchers by implying that efforts to prevent Covid-19 and immunization would have been in vain, which is not true.

In this case, an attempt is made to use invented data (“30 times less deaths”) from an isolated population about which not much information is available (the Amish) to lend legitimacy to the argument that there had been a “manufactured panic” ” regarding the pandemic. As with many other conspiracy theories, this alleged deceitful plot would be promoted by pharmaceutical companies and government officials to control the population.

When faced with suspicious content about the pandemic or about vaccination in general, it is important to check the veracity of the statements with health and health bodies, such as WHO, PAHO and the Ministry of Health.

why do we investigate

Comprova monitors suspicious content published on social networks and messaging apps about public policies and elections at the federal level and opens investigations for those publications that have achieved greater reach and engagement. You can also suggest checks via WhatsApp +55 11 97045-4984. Suggestions and questions related to questionable content can also be sent to Sheet via WhatsApp 11 99486-0293.

Other checks on the topic

Comprova has already checked several false or misleading information regarding Covid-19 and the vaccines used to fight the virus. It has already been proven that the pandemic was not invented, that exposing the population to the risk of contracting the virus is no better than promoting vaccination, that the FBI has not confirmed the origin of the coronavirus and that the European Parliament has not classified immunizers against covid -19 as biological weapons.