databob on Daily Kos is pissed off at the government of Florida:
As has been explained in other diaries, Florida has been engaging in a horribly duplicative duplicitous practice of reporting Covid-19 deaths based on date of death, not date of report. This has led to the kind of totally misleading chart such as the one today on the CDC Covid tracking site [omitted.] …
So the 6 deaths reported on 8/23 morphed into 53, and even the 126 deaths reported on 8/1 is STILL going up more than 3 weeks later, from 126 to 130.
It’s impossible to get a good estimate of how many people are actually dying from Covid-19 because of the way deaths are being reported, but the (current) total for the week beginning 8/5 is really scary: 1,400 Floridians died of Covid-19 during that week which is 200 per day.
And that total of 1,400 is going to go up even more, for several more weeks, as the DeathSantis administration here in Florida continues its deadly game of misdirection by pretending that death totals are going down precipitously, when in fact, they are nearly as high as they were a year ago, and trending higher.
There’s no great mystery here: DeSantis is desperate to make his chosen strategy of pretending no emergency exists appear to work.
In the television world of GOP politics, appearances is all. The most primitive GOP politicians simply parade about shouting lies about their performance, much like Governor Noem (R-SD). Governor DeSantis understands that plain-speaking data can sink him, but manipulated data, particularly that which he can argue is still in some way true-if-not-useful, combined with the public short-attention span theatre of the American public, can still save his ass.
But appearances are not reality. If you’re thinking of visiting Florida, take precautions. DeSantis may be shouting that all is well, but looking at revised numbers suggests Florida is in the grip of a pandemic, and that it’s not going well.
