Fox News’ Dr. Marc Siegel attacks WHO for warning about coronavirus, claims it’s no more dangerous than influenza

Dr. Siegel: The World Health Organization “are a bunch of alarmists, they are saber rattlers”

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Citation From the March 6, 2020, edition of Fox News' Bill Hemmer Reports 

BILL HEMMER (ANCHOR): There is a quote from the head of the World Health Organization today. He said, “This is not a drill, this is a time for pulling out all the stops." Now is that a fair statement or is that an alarmist?

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DR. MARC SIEGEL (FOX NEWS MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR): I would add to that they are a bunch of alarmists, they are saber rattlers. And look, the statistics they keep throwing out, death rate 3.4%. Let me tell you something, let's look at South Korea, an organized country where they have been screening everyone, well over 100,000, now over 200,000 people. They found about 6,000 cases. Deaths a little bit less than 30, that's a 0.7% death rate in an organized society with a great health care system. Guess what that reminds me of? Influenza -- maybe slightly more percentage-wise than influenza. This is a contagious virus, we're concerned about it. We don't have a vaccine for it, but there's no reason to believe it's actually more problematic or deadly than influenza.