As mainstream media reports and many Democrats continue hyping the rise in coronavirus cases, especially in red states like Texas where GOP governors hastened to reopen their economies, it’s becoming clearer that the numbers are being misreported at best and purposely manipulated at worst.
In the Lone Star state, for instance, Bexar County — where the city of San Antonio is located — removed 3,500 cases from its COVID-19 reporting dashboard on Wednesday because they were not confirmed, but only “probable.”
“The San Antonio Metro Health District has clarified its reporting to separate confirmed and probable cases, so the Bexar County and statewide totals have been updated to remove 3,484 probable cases,” the Texas Department of Health and Human Services announced.
“The local case count previously included probable cases identified by antigen testing but not those from antibody testing or other sources,” the department added, according to KSAT.
The total state count was adjusted to reflect only confirmed positive coronavirus tests.
Residents are determined ‘probable’ after meeting two of three criteria, KSAT reported:
— A positive quick-result antigen test
— Experiencing COVID-19 symptoms
— Close contact with a confirmed positive COVID-19 case
“Probable cases do not mean ‘maybe’ cases of COVID-19,” said Dr. Colleen Bridger, interim director of Metro Health, the station reported.
“Antigen tests are FDA approved, and positive tests are highly accurate. San Antonio is one of only three Texas cities collecting and reporting this data per the CDC guidelines, but the State of Texas wants apples-to-apples comparisons between Texas cities,” Bridger added.
Local officials ripped the decision by the state to discontinue counting ‘probable’ positives.
“From a science perspective and medical perspective, it doesn’t make any sense to not count these test results, as they are just as accurate in determining positive cases,” San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who is listed as a political “Independent,” said. “This gives us a better sense of where the infections are so we can control it.”
But critics point out that ‘probable’ cases could improperly inflate the overall coronavirus ‘positive’ rate, which could in turn influence local and state government decisions regarding new restrictions on business activities, social distancing, and mandatory mask-wearing, as it has in Texas.
KSAT notes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention include ‘probable’ influenza cases during annual flu seasons, but those figures are seldom politicized, if at all.
In addition, the fudging or misreporting of coronavirus statistics has been occurring practically since the beginning of the disease’s outbreak in the United States.
Earlier this week, Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who has been tracking the misreporting, noted in an interview with Committee to Unleash Prosperity President Phil Kerpen, that as far back as May, health officials in Virginia had to admit they were counting the same people who tested positive for coronavirus more than once each as a new case.
