File this one under: Holy crap! The New York Times retracted a huge exaggeration of kids hospitalized by Covid.
(RELATED: And When They Are Wrong, Nothing Happens. That’s the Problem.)
As reported by the National Review, a Times reporter was claiming that “nearly 900,000 children have been hospitalized with COVID-19 since the pandemic began.” Dayum! That’s almost a million! But the real number? The correct number is 63,000 between August 2020 and October 2021. Ummmm that’s a pretty big difference. They were off by about 800,000 plus.
Here’s the problem with retractions: The damage has been done. How many people think that almost a million children have been hospitalized by Covid? They must be terrified. They read it in the NYT for crying out loud! Now how many will read the retraction? It’s a jacked up scenario.
The real number isn’t in the same ballpark of fear. Yes, it’s concerning, but it’s not the bowel shaking fear that drives people to make quick decisions.
