Kelly Dodd’s public image has still not recovered from her statement that the pandemic is God’s way of thinning the herd, but she’s already back at it.
This time, the Real Housewife of Eugenics is mocking concerns over the mounting death toll while spreading blatant misinformation.
"But how many people die on a daily basis of the flu?" Kelly asks in a challenging tone on her Instagram Stories.
Speaking to her companions, she says: "Nine million? Eight?" Those numbers are well above even annual flu deaths.
"Well, people are gonna die!" Kelly announces, before sarcastically adding: I’m sorry to tell ya."
In case you doubt the veracity of this transcript, you can see Kelly’s unwise rambling for yourself, as we included the video in this post.
Outside of whatever lies people tell themselves for comfort, COVID-19 is much deadlier than the flu by any measure.
Careful analysis based upon the experience of doctors as well as statistics says that COVID-19 is 10 to 44 times more deadly than the flu.
Even more conservative estimates put flu deaths at under 1% of patients, while globally, COVID-19 deaths are at around 3.4% of patients.
Many people build up resistance to the flu virus and never even become sick. The novel coronavirus is new and much more dangerous.
Additionally, the flu has an entire year during which to rack up its annual death toll — a year during which no one social distances.
Even if COVID-19 death counts were comparable to flu deaths, which they are not, they could not be compared.
With bars and restaurants and schools closed down, with social distancing, with masks, with all of these measures, people are still dying.
No person can honestly look at the facts and conclude that the flu is in any way comparable to this pandemic.
Statistics aside, COVID-19’s effects cannot be compared to the flu, dspite "flu-like symptoms" being a simplified early symptom.
Doctors are learning more about what makes this disease deadly every day, but one thing that has been observed is deadly blood clots.
It seems that COVID-19 is also inflicting permanent organ damage to some of the people who recover, and it is not only impacting the lungs.
It is baffling that Kelly would make such casual statements about a pandemic ravaging the world — especially that she would make them publicly.
We get it — Kelly Dodd is rich and feels entitled to live her life with all of its conveniences.
And perhaps she has trouble caring about people who are not in her immediate circle.
Perhaps she should look at this from another perspective — if she keeps saying vile, inexcusable things, she could lose her job.
Rhetoric minimizing the risk based upon lies and misinformation isn’t just dumb, it’s dangerous.
Some people, including a politician or two whom we could name if we chose, are truly incapable of understanding this pandemic.
Some people do a math problem in seconds, others in minutes, but some people will never be able to do it correctly no matter how hard they try.
But Kelly is not actually stupid. If she wanted to look at the numbers, the evidence, and the testimony of medical experts, she could understand.
Kelly has the same Google as the rest of us. She is only talking out of her ass like this because she does not wish to understand it.
There is no easy way to explain to someone why they should care about other people. Either they do, or they do not.
However, Kelly’s cavalier attitude does not seem to be exclusively directed at the peasantry, so to speak.
She has been flying back and forth between New York and California, spending time with fiance Rick Leventhal and daughter Jolie.
As if that unnecessary travel weren’t risky enough, Kelly participated in a recent and deeply unwise gathering of Housewives.
We could not possibly tell you what was going through their minds when they assembled like this … and shared the photos online.
Braunwyn, Emily, Shannon, and Kelly gathered to show off a particular brand of face masks.
They seem to have genuinely believed that they were complying with safety rules despite being well within six feet of each other.
It’s a mask that contains most of the particles of your breath and helps to prevent you from infecting others. It’s one safety tool among many.
Remember in March when health experts were leery of recommending that people wear masks? This nonsense is what they were afraid of.
Some have suggested that these are politics at play. Orange County is notoriously conservative (though they did go blue in 2018).
Emily is an outspoken Trump enthusiast. And Kelly is engaged to a dude from Fox News. Is that why they seem to be laughing off a pandemic?
It could also simply be that they are rich and aren’t worried because their wealth will insulate them from harm better than any mask. How sad.
Fans aren’t the only ones who are disgusted with the way that some of the Housewives have conducted themselves.
Tamra Judge — who was one of them just a few months ago — reacted with dismay when she saw that her erstwhile castmates had gathered.
She replied with a facepalm emoji, illustrated above, showing that she was bewildered by the foolishness of it all.
So yes, even Real Housewives — past and present — not only should know better, but can.
But let’s be clear — Braunwyn, Emily, and Shannon may have made some mistakes with social distancing, but they didn’t do what Kelly is doing.
Kelly has now, not once but twice, opened her mouth and made senseless, pointless comments trivializing the deaths from the pandemic.
If she’s going to say ignorant things, could she at least save it for her friends?
Talking to your friends and not airing your own worst moments on Instagram is free. All that you need is a smidge of common sense.
We get it — Kelly has a certain reputation to maintain. But bad behavior off-screen does not have the benefits of on-camera shenanigans.
But Kelly isn’t doing this to get headlines or give herself a redemption storyline when filming picks up. At least, we don’t think so.
She has had such success as a Housewife because she just blurts out whatever is on her mind.
Having no filter can make someone a wonderfully entertaining reality TV personality, but it can also make them a lousy human being.