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The COVID-19 death toll has become a political football.
Democratic politicians and groups suggested on social media that government officials have misidentified COVID-19 deaths as pneumonia cases in an effort to conceal the true coronavirus death count.
“According to the CDC, so far this year, Florida has had 1,762 deaths from COVID-19 and 5,185 from pneumonia. Average pneumonia deaths in Florida from 2013-2018 for the same time period are 918. Probably just a coincidence, yeah?” stated a May 27 Facebook post by the New Florida Majority, a liberal group. The post included a photo of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The tweet drew tens of thousands of likes and shares over the next few days and was echoed by Democratic political figures. Former party chairman Howard Dean accused Florida of “cooking the books.”
That doesn’t appear to be what happened. While some of the numbers in the post are in the ballpark, the way Squire compared them creates a misleading picture.
Click here to read the full fact-check.
Tweet claims the number of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. already surpassed U.S. deaths in the Vietnam War
As the number of COVID-19 deaths continues to climb, infographics aimed at putting those numbers in perspective are spreading online. One graphic — cited in a viral tweet — claims coronavirus deaths have already surpassed U.S. deaths in the Vietnam War. It’s Legit. Read more»
Do two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Donald Trump not wearing a face mask in public?
Democrat Darren Jackson, the minority leader in the North Carolina House of Representatives, said two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Trump’s decision not to wear a face mask in public. There’s one poll that supports his exact claim, and several others showing that roughly 66% of Americans want Trump to wear a mask. Read the fact-check»
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Alex Mahadevan is a senior multimedia reporter at MediaWise. He can be reached at amahadevan@poynter.org or on Twitter at @AlexMahadevan. Follow MediaWise on TikTok.
