FWIW, I don’t think the responses can be categorized together.  Cryptotourist expressed a reasonable skepticism in a civil manner, neatly hedged just in case someone actually died:


I do think that BayAreaCoins overshot.  Not because I give a hoot about “empathy” (I don’t), but because he drew unwarranted inferences as to fact.  On the face of Paashaas’ post (not having time to check his post history now), there is no evidence but to conclude that (0) somebody may or may not have died, and (1) if somebody died, it was probably not from COVID-19.  In case somebody actually died, appropriate courtesy is in order so as to not trivialize it.  I think that Cryptotourist struck a decent balance.

(An Internet forum post reports that somebody with no pre-existing health problems died of COVID-19 within twelve hours of first presenting symptoms?  Or maybe even within twelve hours of exposure?  Skepticism is warranted—not, “I read it on the Internet, so it must be true.”)

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I second what Cryptotourist said.

Paashaas, condolences for your report of a death in your family at what must be a very difficult time.

There is something missing from your story.  That does tend to happen, when people are shocked with grief.  Please do understand that there is a major problem with disinformation right now.  I suggest that for your own sake and the sake of your family, you should not jump to conclusions that this death was caused by COVID-19.  If you have some extraordinary evidence that it was, then you should consider telling us:  A healthy person very suddenly dropping dead from COVID-19 “just like that. ” would be a serious matter of public interest.

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I oughtn’t need to remark on the agonies of hell deserved by anybody who tells Internet fake stories that trivialize a plague causing intense suffering to real people.