Reported as “news” and not “opinion,” the Pine Bluffs, Wyo. Post continues to propagate debunked Republican talking points about Covid-19 and reporting of cases.

The national news media continues to rant about the increasing “spike” in the number of COVID cases. Being the media they really don’t say how cases are being counted though. Wyoming is no different. The reporting is confusing and doesn’t state the facts so they can be understood by most people. Our cumulative numbers are continuing to rise but the rate of positive results based on the number of tests performed has only increased by 0.038%. That’s not a great change since we have increased the number of tests performed by 20.75%. As of January 14th we have tested 542,316 people in Wyoming. The Wyoming Department of Health does place a disclaimer on the test results stating essentially that positive results may be duplicated since patients may have been tested multiple times. The case numbers and test results may not match. Another factor that will confuse understanding these results is that they’re cumulative. That is, the number of cases is the total of all cases since reporting started. We would expect to see that value increasing because we keep adding to it. The important fact is that the rate of positive tests is decreasing (down 0.02 %) indicating that the spread of the disease is slowing. Kathy Emmons, the Executive Director of the Laramie County Heath Department has stated in interviews that the slowing spread is due to the Governor’s mask mandate. RED FLAG! The spread was already slowing before the mask mandate had a chance to effect the spread of the virus.

To date, Wyoming has had 522 deaths or 0.03 % of the entire population. That means that 99.97 % of the population has survived the virus. I understand that the number of deaths will continue to grow since it is a cumulative number since we keep adding to it as time moves forward. The more informative value is the death rate among those who have tested positive. It shows an increase of 0.33 %. The total rate of deaths among those who tested positive since recording began is now at 1.25 % or 12.5 people per every 1,000 who have tested positive or 1.25 people per every 100. That’s a 98.75 % survival rate, the number that’s never reported.

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COVID Update January 2021 (Goes to the Pine Bluffs, Wyo. Post)

Like other conservative outlets, they combine the fallacy of small numbers (0.03%) and ignore other things (such as permanent damage to the heart or kidneys from the disease). They also do not acknowledge the numbers are underreported since not everyone is tested.

In areas like mine, there is no counter-narrative to right-wing propaganda, and local newspapers such as the Post are where a lot of people get their information. The competitors to the Pine Bluffs Post also lean right-wing though don’t publish unsubstantiated right-wing propaganda. Its principle competitor for regional news is the right-leaning Scottsbluff, Nebr. Star-Herald (which keeps opinions on the opinion page).