LeBron James angered a lot of people last week as he took to Instagram with a meme that suggested that COVID-19, the flu, and the common cold are all the same thing. Many fans interpreted it in different ways, however, there is no denying that the Los Angeles Lakers superstar sparked a discussion.
Whether or not that discussion was actually a good one, still remains to be seen. As you can imagine, one staunch critic of LeBron's rhetoric is none other than NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who has been quite outspoken about COVID on his Substack. In fact, following LeBron's meme, Kareem went on a lengthy rant in which he broke down some statistics from the pandemic, and how LeBron should cater his advocacy, moving forward.
Per Kareem:
"To directly address LeBron’s confusion, no one thinks colds and the flu aren’t serious. In the 2019-2020 flu season, 400,000 people were hospitalized and 22,000 people died. In 2020, 385,428 people died of COVID-19, while so far in 2021, 423,558 have died in the U.S., for a total of 808,986 deaths. Experts agree that COVID-19 is at least 10 times more lethal than the flu. As for the common cold, death is extremely rare.
However, LeBron James, if you’re concerned about the flu, then help promote the flu vaccination. In the 2019-2020 flu season, only 51.8% in the U.S. were vaccinated, well below the 70% that is the target. Worse, the vaccination rate is 20% lower among Blacks than whites and as a result they have the highest hospitalization rate due to flu of any other group. This is due to vaccination hesitancy that your meme promotes."
While Kareem came prepared with the statistics and the facts, this is 2021. Once someone has decided their position on something, it is almost impossible to sway them in the other direction, regardless of how hard you try. While Kareem's efforts are certainly admirable, it's doubtful that anyone will come away from this enlightened about why they've been wrong for the past year and a half.
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