In response to a tweet from Howard Dean we told you about at the end of March, the much-loved-by-libs Twitter account Bad COVID-19 Takes debunked this conspiracy theory popular among libs that Florida is somehow undercounting deaths from the coronavirus:
— Bad COVID-19 Takes (@BadCOVID19Takes) April 2, 2021
The account looked at total mortality and found Florida is in the “middle of the pack” and “the numbers aren’t fake”:
Context: Florida has about middle-of-the-road COVID deaths. Some people imagine that maybe they falsely achieved this by undercounting COVID, but total mortality confirms it. Total deaths also middle-of the pack; the numbers aren't fake. https://t.co/DATK2Pel4q
— Bad COVID-19 Takes (@BadCOVID19Takes) April 2, 2021
Dean has been alerted to his error and still has the tweet up:
Folks can and should disagree on what the best policy is. But disagreements on policy should not lead to the denial of verifiable facts. Howard Dean has been told this people who combat COVID misinformation, but has not corrected. It's a bad take. https://t.co/nuAlFN9lKx
— Bad COVID-19 Takes (@BadCOVID19Takes) April 2, 2021
Does he really care though?
Liberals can certainly be wrong but in this case there is no evidence for that. There is plenty of evidence that the Governor and his henchmen cooked the books in multiple ways. The Florida statistics on Covid are completely worthless. https://t.co/OGtuFHr1Ac
— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) March 23, 2021
This IS pretty on-brand for him:
I cannae believe that Howard Dean, who believes Bush had advance knowledge of 9/11, Trump was on cocaine during a debate and was also possibly involved in attempting to "suicide" Ghislane Maxwell, also believes the Florida numbers conspiracy. Shocked I tell you. https://t.co/Dzh1IlKBI0
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) March 24, 2021
Even crticis of Gov. Ron DeSantis are calling him out:
I've followed Florida's pandemic response as closely as anyone, and I certainly haven't held back my criticisms of @GovRonDeSantis. But, this is conspiratorial nonsense. https://t.co/1bG4LdBgbY
— Ryan Gorman (@ryanegorman) March 24, 2021
More here from Zeynep Tufekci who we’ve linked to in the past:
Maybe you've seen reports that Florida has undercounted COVID deaths. Sure, but essentially all states have. Florida unremarkable. @zeynep (one of the best reporters on COVID, who told us to start wearing masks before most) breaks it down well here. https://t.co/tQTeW479SV
— Bad COVID-19 Takes (@BadCOVID19Takes) April 2, 2021
Her conclusion:
Of course, articles about Florida allegedly covering up excess COVID deaths immediately got shared widely on social media, and most people will never see either a correction or a follow-up article. It’s just the way it works, now.
This isn’t an easy position to dig oneself out of because we all are part of such political groups. I am not even trying to conduct false equivalence here: some falsehoods are worse than others, and at least in the United States, the damage done by the political parties to fighting the pandemic is clearly not equal. But it also seems important to understand how, and why, misinformation, bad science and policy and terrible attitudes are not just a problem over there.
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Related:
‘He should be embarrassed’: YEEEAAAAAH that’s one BIG-a*s lie Howard Dean is pushing about DeSantis, Florida and COVID https://t.co/zNy8Eosq3B
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) March 23, 2021
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