After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its data on COVID-19 deaths showing how many people also had an underlying condition, conspiracy theories about the death toll began spreading on social media and were boosted by Republican politicians. More than 90 posts on social media from TV stations owned or operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group may have misled viewers by neglecting to include relevant context about the new CDC data. While a Sinclair national correspondent later provided this information in a thorough news segment, the social media reach for dozens of stations may have made this effort too late.
Sinclair stations' social media posts are misleading people on the CDC's updated COVID-19 data
Published
The internet was abuzz over the weekend when an updated report from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention noted that 94% of COVID-19 fatalities from Feb. 1 through Aug. 22 included some comorbid factors.
Another way of looking at that is that doctors didn't list another contributing factor for 6% of 161,392 who reportedly have died from COVID-19 as of that date — either because there wasn't one or because the death certificates weren't complete. As evidenced by an array of online articles and social media posts, people interpreted this data in different ways. It included those who viewed it as COVID-19 deaths were vastly overinflated because someone who died of COVID-19 may have died because of a pre-existing condition instead.
