'Random Act of Journalism' by NBC on Virus Numbers: They did a piece wondering why some states with the strictest restrictions were now experiencing surges, while states which removed restrictions had decreasing cases

Red State ^ | 04/08/2021 | Nick Arama

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COVID-19 hot spot graphic (via The TODAY Show, https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/1380134029765263360 )

Looks like The Today Show just may have committed what Rush Limbaugh used to call a “random act of journalism,” as Townhall reports.

They did a piece wondering why some of the states with the strictest restrictions in the country, like Michigan and New York, were now experiencing surges in the Wuhan coronavirus while the places which removed restrictions and dropped mandates, like Texas and Arkansas, had decreasing cases?

Some states with stricter rules are now seeing surges in COVID-19 cases, while many others that rushed to reopen are experiencing sizable drops. The numbers have experts scratching their heads. @SamBrockNBC has the details. pic.twitter.com/2uTTgb3dxG

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 8, 2021

Now, while they raised a good question, they didn’t come to a clear conclusion.

They theorized that perhaps it was less testing in the southern states. The problem with that argument is that if that were true then the hospitalizations and deaths would be going up as well and that doesn’t appear to be the case. For example, in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has reported deaths and hospitalizations continuing to drop.

Today Texas reported a 10-month low in the number of Texans testing positive for Covid.

We reported 3 Covid-related fatalities. That's the 2nd lowest in more than a year.

And hospitalizations decreased again to almost a 10-month low.

More than 250,000 Texans got a Covid shot.

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 6, 2021

They also theorized that younger people may be going to places like Miami and then bringing it back. But that also seems an odd conclusion, since they say that numbers in Miami have only increased slightly. The slight increase could be spring break behavior. But then, if people were “bringing it back,” why wouldn’t the numbers be higher in the unrestricted Miami than in the still restricted areas they were going back to?

They spoke about variants like the U.K. strain in Michigan and Minnesota. But they note that Florida also has the U.K. strain but hasn’t seen the same degree of spike as the surging states.

NBC noted when they discovered this phenomenon that it was people under 60 who were the majority of the new cases. That may, in part, be because of the concentrated effort to vaccinate older, more at-risk seniors.

But doctors say that patients seeking care this time around are younger and, notably, not as sick.

In New York, where cases are rising, some Covid-19 patients still require hospitalization, but the numbers of such patients are nowhere near the “astronomical” levels from a year ago, said Dr. Frederick Davis, an associate chair of emergency medicine at Northwell Health’s Long Island Jewish Hospital.

Now, Davis said, Covid-19 cases are mostly mild.

“The cases we are seeing are the younger groups that probably aren’t eligible for vaccines just yet,” Davis said.

In other words, while the cases might be going up in some of these areas, it’s with younger people and the cases are milder. Milder is a good thing.

Texas didn’t lift restrictions in a vacuum, they only did it after seeing numbers of hospitalizations and deaths continue to drop and since lifting the restrictions now a month ago, there hasn’t been any spike back up.

Now, Georgia is the next one to open up. The state has been averaging fewer than 1,400 new cases detected in recent days, the lowest level since last June.

[TBP]

It’s Trump’s fault.