Cases or infections?
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Original Question
Which fallacy describes this statement: “Cases are not infections. Testing can’t tell the difference between live virus and dead virus”?
Comments on Question
Answers
2These are just statements or claims. There is no fallacy here. To be fallacious, it would have be in the context of an argument - implied or explicit. I can't even guess what an implied argument might be here. I would need to see more context.
It seems to me that it's less a case of faulty or fallacious logic and more a case of agreeing on the definition of terms. I suspect if we were to read some of the professionally-done studies relating to COVID "cases" and "infections", we'd find that those studies define the term in the way they'll be used in the study ... either as synonymous or as different.
The potential logical flaw I see would be using a term that has two potential meanings (depending on the situation) in a way that has the non-applicable meaning being applied to a situation where it doesn't apply. To me, that's less a case of fallacious logic and more a case of deception, because using an inapplicable definition for a term would make the claim factually incorrect.
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It's just nonsensical, I can't even put a meaning to it.
"Live virus and dead virus"
???
Does this mean dead patients and living ones? If so, fine - overall cases =/= infections, unless we're looking at new cases. However, new cases are included in overall cases, so some of those are infections.
I'm guessing, though. The statement is so unclear you'd think the person is using a language from another planet.