The Texas Tribune issued a major correction Thursday after falsely reporting that 5,800 children had been hospitalized with COVID-19 over a seven-day period.
The initial report claimed that a major spike in coronavirus infections had resulted in 5,800 children being hospitalized, but the correction noted that there had actually been 5,800 children hospitalized with COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. (RELATED: WaPo Issues Lengthy Correction After Completely Misquoting Trump In Story About Phone Call With Georgia Investigator)
That’s one heck of a correction. https://t.co/UBBgV0OXXm pic.twitter.com/uhxkYABwR3
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) August 12, 2021
The correction, applied to an article titled “Texas children and children’s hospitals are under siege from two viruses: RSV and COVID-19,” read:
An earlier version of this story overstated the number of children who have been hospitalized in Texas recently with COVID-19. The story said over 5,800 children had been hospitalized during a seven-day period in August, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number correctly referred to children hospitalized with COVID-19 since the pandemic began. In actuality, 783 children were admitted to Texas hospitals with COVID-19 between July 1 and Aug. 9 of this year.
Some noted that, in addition to wrongly applying the total pandemic number to a seven-day period, the actual number of new hospitalizations — 783 — was for a 40-day period ranging from July 1 to August 9.
Several high-profile accounts shared the erroneous story before the correction was made, however.
unconscionable: Over 5,800 children in Texas were newly hospitalized with COVID-19 in the seven-day period ending on Aug. 8, a 37% increase from a week prior. where is the pro-life movement ?? it’s now a death cult https://t.co/PzbNk1t4LS via @TexasTribune
— Jennifer ‘pro-voting’ Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) August 12, 2021
Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin shared the article along with a tweet that appeared to blame the pro-life movement for the rising number of cases — and call it “a death cult.”