#FakeNews: Miami Herald’s Headline Falsely Suggests 901 Florida COVID-19 Deaths Occurred in Single Day

#FakeNews: Miami Herald’s Headline Falsely Suggests 901 Florida COVID-19 Deaths Occurred in Single Day

The Democratic Party’s progressives and their media minions clearly telegraph who they fear most in upcoming election cycles.

The current target of their outrage is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The media is giving DeSantis the Trump-treatment in hopes of thwarting any future political career the relatively youthful and clearly innovative governor may have.

There were a few notable eye-poppers in the coverage of DeSantis this week. The Miami Herald ran a story whose headline suggested over 900 Floridians died of COVID-19 in a day…instead of the course of several weeks of data that was collected.

…[W]hile the headline indicates that the 901 COVID deaths mark the state’s “largest single-day increase” in CDC data, the reality is that those 901 deaths did not occur in a single day.

“Florida on Thursday reported 21,765 more COVID-19 cases and 901 deaths to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Miami Herald calculations of CDC data,” the report began. “All but two of the newly reported deaths occurred after July 25, with about 78% of those people dying in the past two weeks, according to Herald calculations of data published by the CDC. The majority of deaths happened during Florida’s latest surge in COVID-19 cases, fueled by the delta variant.”

Miami Herald headline: 901 deaths is the biggest one-day increase in pandemic history.

Miami Herald article: The 901 deaths actually took place over a period of more than four weeks.

They do this on purpose. pic.twitter.com/94SknHM2qF

— Max (@MaxNordau) August 26, 2021

Next up in the hit parade of hyperbole related to DeSantis is the report that Former Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean called DeSantis “lunatic” over his handling of COVID-19.

During an interview on MSNBC’s “The Beat with Ari Melber,” Dean said he was “shocked” by DeSantis’s handling of the coronavirus surge in Florida.

“I’m actually just shocked by DeSantis. I never thought I’d say this, but I think he may be more of a lunatic than Trump ever was,” Dean said.

“I mean Trump has finally come around to understanding that the best thing he can do for his own supporters is to get them to be vaccinated. DeSantis is completely out of touch with reality,” he continued.

Clearly, DeSantis is no lunatic. But the attacks are a symptom of the Democrat’s concern about the sensible approaches the Florida governor is taking, trying to optimize economic prosperity, personal liberty, and public health.

As I have noted in my analysis about the global coronavirus pandemic of 1889, this virus is apt to hit areas in waves over the next several years. Focusing on death counts and hospitalizations for any one location on any portion of the “wave curve” is not factual, not based on science, and is indicative of the distorted reporting that has left Americans skeptical about press coverage regarding the pandemic.

LA Times: “California doing much better with Delta than Florida, Texas” because of masks and vaccination rates

Reality: The rate of hospitalization increases in California & Texas has been nearly identical

Wonder if the experts could identify which is which! pic.twitter.com/QT4xglnaCI

— IM (@ianmSC) August 11, 2021

I assert that more focus should be given on developing treatments for COVID-19 options, and making them readily available to the public. DeSantis has been opening monoclonal antibody treatment centers throughout the state.

And while DeSantis was slammed for this approach, the media may have to backtrack on the attacks. It turns out the godlet of COVID has deemed the treatment effective.

Dr. Anthony Fauci claimed on Tuesday that an antibody treatment previously championed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis can reduce the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization or death by 70% to 85%.

…Fauci is not the first person to recommend the antibodies, as DeSantis endorsed the same treatments in early August. An investigation from the Associated Press questioned the financial ties between DeSantis’s top donor and the company producing the antibodies, casting doubt on the governor’s motivations for promoting the treatments.

DeSantis sent a letter to the Associated Press after the report was published, criticizing the outlet for implying that his support for the treatment was politically driven.

“You succeeded in publishing a misleading, clickbait headline about one of your political opponents, but at the expense of deterring individuals infected with COVID from seeking life-saving treatment, which will cost lives,” the governor’s letter said. “Was it worth it?”

I would give anything for our scientists to develop an effective treatment for our press, one that would cure it of the anti-Trump hysteria and inclination to promote Democratic talking points. Until then, view any report that deals with both a Republican and COVID-19 with extreme skepticism.

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