Well, Trey, at least you weren't relying on the WHO and the CDC...
ALWAYS follow back to the sources as best you can, as completely as you can.
If you are reading reported conclusions, find out where those conclusions came from, and how they were derived.
See the supporting data, in complete context. So much can be taken out of context, quoted out of order, and the meaning completely changed. So many 'studies' study other 'studies' and each relies on the conclusions drawn in those studies, which may or may not be valid.
Building on a foundation of flawed models and questionable (even altered) data an entire empire of Anthropogenic Global Warming (now rebranded as "Climate Change") has cost the peoples of the World Trillions of dollars and untold misery and death, and still, in some circles dominates not only academic discussion but public policy, to the detriment of good science and the welfare of all.
Keep in mins, consensus and majority opinion mean little when the one in the minority is right, as often happens in science. EVERY person out there lauded as having made great advances was at risk of being shouted down as a crackpot by those who would wave the flag of "Everyone Knows". Even commonly held beliefs involving fundamental physical science were once controversial--things we take for granted, such as the sun being the central celestial body in the solar system.