Fox News host Jillian Mele cautioned the network's viewers on Sunday after actor Kevin Sorbo compared COVID-19 to the seasonal flu.
In an interview on Fox & Friends, Sorbo appeared with his wife Sam to explain why he had called Americans "blind sheep" for obeying government guidelines for fighting the novel coronavirus.
"I'm not saying this virus isn't dangerous," Sorbo opined. "Of course, it's dangerous... But you know, look at the common flu. The so-called common flu is 60 to 80,000 people a year die every year from the flu. Are we doing anything about that? Are we social distancing from that?"
"There's more going on here guys and it's about control and power over our lives," he insisted. "That's what government wants to do."
Sorbo's wife suggested "civil disobedience" as a remedy.
"I've seen small businesses opening, defying the state orders," she explained. "We need business because guess what's essential, folks. Food is essential and feeding your family is essential. And the fact is we established this nation for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The pursuit of happiness or prosperity is actually having a job."
"Let's send a message to Washington," Sam Sorbo continued. "Maybe your job is not essential. Maybe you shouldn't be getting paid because there are people who are suffering today, who are not even getting their minimum wage pay because the government has determined that their job is not essential."
Sorbo interrupted to complain that golf courses are closed during the pandemic.
"It's insane!" the actor exclaimed.
Fox News host Jillian Mele paused the interview to offer viewers a warning.
"All the experts do say that this is different and a lot more contagious than the flu," Mele said. "And we do need to take certain medical and safety precautions. So just want to clarify that."
"But there are also medical professionals who are saying we should not be social distancing," Sam Sorbo remarked. "There are medical people who have done studies... we need herd immunity, we need people to get out and wash your hands, sure. But maybe this was an overreaction."
The actor's wife then falsely claimed that the Centers for Disease Control had cut the COVID-19 death toll in half.
But she got no pushback from the Fox News hosts.
"Have you seen that, I'm not wearing a mask, my body, my choice meme that's going around?" Sam Sorbo asked. "Is my body, my choice still applicable?"
Mele reminded the couple that Dr. Anthony Fauci has said that social distancing worked to slow the spread of the virus.
"It means never then," Sorbo complained. "There's always going to be viruses out there. Is this virus going to go away and be gone forever? Eventually we have to go back to living lives."
"My concern is the predictions of Fauci and Birx has not been borne out," Sam Sorbo chimed in. "In any degree. And so the CDC revised their death toll to 37,000 (they didn't) which is not even on the rate of a flu at this point. So then what?"
After the interview ended, Mele felt the need to correct the couple one more time.
"Once again for our viewers, difficult to compare coronavirus to the regular flu," she said. "So just a reminder about that."
