Photo by The New York Times Company [retrieved 4-Nov-2021]
Apparently bad news for liberals, since you won’t find this story anywhere in the liberal mainstream media.1 After unrelenting harping on how terrible Florida’s COVID response was, the tables have turned, and now the COVID rate story is of little interest.
Wouldn’t be useful to see if there were any lessons learned from a state that went from near worst to first? You won’t find any positive headlines about Florida’s low rate from outlets that touted the prior high rate. When the story doesn’t fit their narrative, they just ignore it. People who only use mainstream liberal media as their news source get a very skewed, and inaccurate, view of the facts.
Before the drop in case rate –
- Miami-Dade is a hot COVID mess, but we have company all over Florida. Thank DeSantis – Miami Herald
- As Covid Surges in Florida, DeSantis Refuses to Change Course – The New York Times
- Florida Shatters Records For New Covid Cases And Hospitalizations As Gov. DeSantis Resists Calls For New Restrictions – Forbes
After the drop in case rate –
- Florida touts its low coronavirus case rate, but California has fared better in the pandemic – San Francisco Chronicle
- DeSantis and allies want credit for his boom-to-bust coronavirus numbers. But the drop is hardly unusual – The Washington Post
- Florida Newspaper Blasts Ron DeSantis as ‘Fraud’ Over COVID Victory Lap: ‘What a Phony’ – Newsweek
Even FactCheck.org gets in on the act with this gem –
The claim: DeSantis, Social Media Posts Mislead on COVID-19’s Toll in Florida.2
The analysis: The social media posts and DeSantis are correct that Florida’s daily COVID-19 case rate is currently low.
The rating: Misleading.
Nothing in the article mentions how the posts about Florida’s low daily case rate are misleading. The article instead discusses Florida’s total case rate since the pandemic began. FactCheck.org is trying to get to a ‘misleading’ rating by conflating two different things (the recent daily COVID case rate and the cumulative COVID case rate) and hoping no one notices.
1 Florida now has the lowest rate of daily COVID cases per capita of any other state
2 DeSantis, Social Media Posts Mislead on COVID-19’s Toll in Florida