Are fears about American deaths in Dominican Republic overblown?; State Department: "Have not seen an uptick" in U.S. deaths in Dominican Republic
SMERCONISH: It's dominated headlines over the past few weeks. American tourists dine in the Dominican Republic, some under what their families say are suspicious circumstances. And there have been more stories of tourists saying they fell ill or were poisoned while on vacation. The constant media coverage of the deaths and illnesses has led to the belief that there's this sudden uptick in American deaths in the DR, but here's the thing. That perception doesn't match the data. So far, seven Americans have died in the DR this calendar year. Some from natural causes, some maybe not. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause for some of those deaths. But if you look at the raw numbers, these deaths, while tragic, are not out of the ordinary. According to the State Department, 13 Americans died in the DR last year. That's from non-natural causes, meaning the total number could be higher. In 2017, the State Department says 17 Americans died in the country from non-natural causes. In 2016, that number was 18. There may be suspicious circumstances around some of the recent deaths. The FBI confirmed that it is sending investigators to the DR to help local authorities their investigate the American deaths, but the State Department released a statement and said this. "We do not publish statistics regarding natural deaths abroad. However, speaking generally, over 2.7 million U.S. citizens visit the Dominican Republic each year and we have not seen an uptick in the number of U.S. citizen deaths reported to the department." Bottom line, American deaths in the DR are not on the rise. This reminds me of the summer of 2001 when a perfect storm of circumstances led to a shark attack hysteria. A few high-profile attacks, paired with a slow news summer led to wall-to-wall coverage of the attacks. Anybody remember the name Jessie Arbogast? "TIME" magazine dubbed it the "Summer of the Shark." People were convinced that shark attacks were drastically on the rise. Well, turns out, again, it was more hype than fact. According to the International Shark Attack File. there were 76 unprovoked attacks in 2001, nine fewer than the year before and deaths from sharks dropped by seven from the year prior. As Steven Pinker points out in his TED talk, "Is the world getting better or worse? A look at the numbers," it's the nature of media to report on the tragedies, the crimes, the attacks and it's human nature to be pessimistic and fatalistic even when the numbers don't back up the fear causing us to think the world is getting worse, more violent, less safe when the numbers actually prove otherwise. Up ahead, with hundreds of visitors, even tour buses visiting Columbine High School each year, the district is thinking of knocking down the building where so many died in 1999 and replacing it. Will that cure the problem? I'll ask the man who was the school's principal on that fateful day. Plus, tensions are high in the Mideast after President Trump came within minutes of attacking Iran for downing our surveillance drone, but who started it?