© REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Co-director of the intensive care unit at CommonSpirit's Dignity Health California Hospital Medical Center attends to COVID-19 patient
The Pew Research Center is being criticized on social media for appearing to spin a graphic depicting deaths from the coronavirus outbreak in favor of Democrats - despite the actual data painting a very different picture.
"Covid-19 deaths have declined in Democratic congressional districts since mid-April, but remained relatively steady in districts controlled by Republicans," the research body tweeted on Wednesday.
While the statement was technically true, it didn't quite match up with the data presented. According to Pew, and based on numbers from Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Democratic districts have actually seen a decline in Covid-19 deaths since mid-April, while numbers in Republican districts have stayed relatively steady -
but coronavirus fatalities in Dem districts are still more than double those in opposing districts.
New deaths reported in Democrat-controlled areas have fallen from 7.4 to 4.1 in the last month - based on a rolling average of seven days - while Republican districts have seen the average for new deaths drop from 2.0 to 1.7.
Once the actual numbers are observed, Pew's assertion that Democrat congressional districts have seen a decline while Republican congressional districts have seen little change comes off as a bit misleading - something social media users have not been afraid to tell the "nonpartisan" data analysis center.
"When ppl ask me what I mean when I say America's uniquely obsessive partisanship is disrupting important study and analysis, in addition to tapping into the public's worst instincts, well," reporter Seth Mandel tweeted when presenting the study to his followers.
Comment: See also: 'I can't breathe' 2.0: Minneapolis police in hot water as suspect dies during BRUTAL chokehold arrest - HUGE crowds clash with cops during protest