Doctors who treat Covid describe the ways the illness has gotten milder and shifted over time to mostly affect the upper respiratory tract.

Doctors say they’re finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish Covid from allergies or the common cold, even as hospitalizations tick up.

The illness’ past hallmarks, such as a dry cough or the loss of sense of taste or smell, have become less common. Instead, doctors are observing milder disease, mostly concentrated in the upper respiratory tract.

“It isn’t the same typical symptoms that we were seeing before. It’s a lot of congestion, sometimes sneezing, usually a mild sore throat,” said Dr. Erick Eiting, vice chair of operations for emergency medicine at Mount Sinai Downtown in New York City.

The sore throat usually arrives first, he said, then congestion.

  • Stuka
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    1 year ago

    So to you propaganda is a synonym for news, and that is simply incorrect.

    • darq@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      No. Not a synonym. But the line between news and propaganda is not clear-cut. Especially in the case of a self-contained article. A news outlet may serve as a source of propaganda, based on the editorial decisions they make. The individual articles are still news, even as they serve as propaganda for their audience.

      • Stuka
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        1 year ago

        You’ve kind of arrived at the point while ignoring it.

        Propaganda requires intent. You are correct that we can’t know their intent directly, therefore we can only use evidence to try to determine the authors intent.

        Admittedly I did not pick the article a part, but I saw no tell-tale signs of propaganda. It was primarily interviews with doctors. I saw no signs of manipulative wording, attempts at persuasion, or unsupported opinions of the writer.

        While I can’t definitively say this article is not propaganda, it probably isn’t.

        So it’s not propaganda until you can provide good evidence that it is.

        • darq@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Propaganda requires intent.

          And editorial choice clears the bar for intent.

          Admittedly I did not pick the article a part, but I saw no tell-tale signs of propaganda. It was primarily interviews with doctors. I saw no signs of manipulative wording, attempts at persuasion, or unsupported opinions of the writer.

          You are ignoring what I’m saying. You are trying to look at a single article for evidence of propaganda. But that isn’t the whole picture.

          A news desk picks what articles that they publish. If they publish a whole bunch of articles saying “the average case of covid has become more mild” that is furthering a specific viewpoint. If they instead publish articles about “people are still suffering from long-covid”, that is furthering a different viewpoint.

          And crucially, both “the average case of covid has become more mild” and “people are still suffering from long-covid” can be true. Both types of articles can be written with absolutely zero bias, and still serve as propaganda.

          • Stuka
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            1 year ago

            Ok, but now you are assuming intent of the news desk still without evidence. I get where you’re coming from, but without actual evidence showing a clear organizational bias for a certain narrative, making that assumption isn’t anymore valid than assuming the actual reporters intent.

            And again, furthering a viewpoint does not make propaganda. Virtually all news is going to further one viewpoint or another, even if the organization and writer are 100% unbiased. Facts usually don’t maintain a neutral ground on a topic.

            • Bipta@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              I get where you’re coming from, but without actual evidence showing a clear organizational bias for a certain narrative

              You mean like how they and others keep publishing articles saying, or intimating, that COVID is less severe now even though there’s really no evidence for that?

              It’s the fact they keep doing it that makes it propaganda.

              • Stuka
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                1 year ago

                even though there’s really no evidence for that

                Ironic considering you’ve presented no evidence to support that.