The correction issued on Thursday means Mandavilli exaggerated the number of child hospitalizations by 837,000 cases. Approximately 500 American children have eventually died from the disease. The exaggeration was included in a report on the debate surrounding whether and how to vaccinate children.

Mandavilli has been a controversial figure at the Times for her ideologically-colored pandemic coverage. In May, she tweeted that

"Someday we will stop talking about the lab leak theory and maybe even admit its racist roots. But alas, that day is not today."

She later deleted the tweet but not before adding

"a theory can have racist roots and still gather reasonable supporters along the way. Doesn't make the roots any less racist or the theory any more convincing, though."

The theory has not yet been disproved. To the contrary, it has picked up a number of prominent supporters in the scientific community, including former Times reporters Nicholas Wade and Donald McNeil. McNeil was the lead coronavirus reporter at the publication prior to his being fired and smeared by the Times for uttering a racial epithet in the context of discussing its moral valence and grace on an educational trip several years ago.

The correction is notable as the nature of the threat that coronavirus poses to children figures heavily in the continued and often partisan debates over vaccine and mask mandates in schools.

While Republicans such as Florida governor Ron DeSantis maintain that such decisions should be left up to parents, President Joe Biden and American Federation of Teachers head Randi Weingarten have advocated for mandates, insisting that they're necessary to protect students and staff alike.

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Acting Senior Sergeant Krystle Mitchell featured on The Discernible Interviews on Friday night to contend that Victoria Police was no longer independent from the Daniel Andrews government.

Dressed in full uniform, she said police were "scaring people in the community" by enforcing the Chief Health Officer's public health restrictions.

"I'm here for a number of reasons but firstly I just want to talk about who I am and the career I've had with Victoria Police,'' she said.

"There was a big thought process and battle of morals and integrity within me about what I wanted to do and how I see my organisation being used during this pandemic and it troubled me greatly...

"But behind that is all of my friends that are police officers that are working the front line and are suffering every day enforcing CHO directions, that certainly the great majority don't believe in and don't want to enforce," she said.

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