Florida is in the headlines as Democrats delight in the fact that there are increasing numbers of COVID infections in the state.  Recognizing Ron DeSantis as the biggest 2024 presidential threat, they'll do anything to destroy his reputation as the governor who has not turned his state into an authoritarian hellhole.  However, the numbers give the lie to the headlines.  I don't purport at all to be knowledgeable about COVID itself; I just recognize devious reporting when I see it.

The Daily Mail, which on fraught subjects invariably has more complete and honest coverage than American media outlets, had an ominous headline:

COVID infections among Florida children 'overwhelm' state's hospitals as Governor DeSantis faces his first legal challenge over barring schools from mandating masks

Yikes!  That's serious.  Overwhelmed hospitals and dying children are a death knell for a politician.  The opening paragraphs, especially that statement from a doctor talking to CNN, seem like killers:

Ron DeSantis is facing two legal challenges over his executive order preventing schools from imposing mask mandates on students as pediatric hospitals become 'overwhelmed' due to COVID cases in children.

'The numbers of cases in our hospitals in children and our children's hospitals are completely overwhelmed,' Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious disease expert at Florida International University, told CNN on Friday.

'Our pediatricians, the nursing, the staff are exhausted, and the children are suffering. And it is absolutely devastating,' she continued. 'Our children are very much affected. We've never seen numbers like this before.'

Florida has the second-highest rate of new coronavirus cases per capita, following Louisiana.

As always, though, the devil is in the details.  The Daily Mail, having quoted that doctor's inflammatory language, adds some pertinent information:

A hospital capacity data set shows only 46 pediatric patients were admitted to Florida hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, bringing the total in the state to 135.

Florida has the second highest number of children in the hospital with COVID, falling behind Texas, which recorded a total of 142 as of Tuesday.

Children dying from COVID-19 is still extremely rare — even with the Delta variant surge.

So in the entire state of Florida, which has over 21 million people and 325 hospitals, there are 135 seriously ill children.  Please don't think I'm saying those children are inconsequential.  My sympathies go out to them and their families, and I wish all of them safe and speedy recoveries.  But come on!  We are not talking about some child scourge.

Moreover, turning again to the Daily Mail, 18 months into the endless pandemic, an Orlando hospital lost its first child to COVID just a few weeks ago — and the poor child was "a boy with a pre-existing lung disease."

Curious about what's really going on in Florida, I did my favorite Bing search: "COVID mortality rates United States."  When the charts showed up, I looked for Florida's data.  I learned that COVID cases are indeed escalating in Florida:

Oh, my God!  We're all going to die, at least if we're in Florida.  But wait!  Not so fast.  When it comes to dying from COVID in Florida, the chart is significantly different:

It doesn't appear as if anyone in Florida is kicking the bucket from COVID.  In a state of more than 21 million people, zero people per day have been dying lately.

As for the new cases, only a fool would doubt that Gov. DeSantis was correct when he said the Biden administration is spreading COVID throughout America thanks to the million illegal aliens from third-world nations who have poured through the open border and then been shipped across the country.  Remember that as the shrieks about the need for increased authoritarianism escalate.  Also, think about all those COVID-infected illegal aliens who've traveled to America and then across America, all seemingly without dropping dead or needing to be hospitalized.  Maybe the disease isn't that bad after all.

One more thing to think about: I'm sorry to say this, but it's time to stop trusting any doctor who speaks to CNN or MSNBC.  They're true believers, and while they may be acting out of some perverted altruism, they'll say anything.

A perfect example is Brytney Cobia, an Alabama physician who wrote a widely circulated Facebook post saying she'd been "admitting healthy young people" to her hospital with serious COVID infections and intubating them as they begged for the vaccine.  What a moving story — and what a complete pile of horse pucky.  As Trevor Thomas explained, the official data for Alabama showed that no healthy young people were inundating hospitals.

Again, I'm not opining about whether the delta variant is dangerous to adults or children, nor am I making a stand about vaccines or anything else.  I'm just pointing out that, when it comes to the purported facts behind attacks against Gov. DeSantis's COVID policy, don't trust, but do verify.

Image: Florida, the new death trap?  By Andrea Widburg.

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