Facts Matter: Daily death comparison uses out-of-date COVID-19 data

A meme circulating on social media this month falsely claims a small number of daily deaths stem from the coronavirus compared to that of deaths from other diseases, according to PolitiFact.com.

"Only 56 coronavirus deaths a day was enough to collapse the world economy, even though thousands of people die daily from tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and other diseases," a July 8 Facebook post claims.

The post includes a bar chart listing "Disease deaths per day worldwide," with tuberculosis at the top with 3,014 deaths, followed by hepatitis B (2,430 deaths), pneumonia (2,216 deaths) and HIV/AIDS (2,110). COVID-19 is 17th on the list with 56 deaths per day.

The numbers on the chart listed for the diseases are mostly accurate, with some variation, when compared to available data, PolitiFact said. However, the 56-death total for COVID-19 was cherry-picked from a time when deaths from the virus were low. Small type on the bottom of the chart says the data is "correct as of March 9, 2020."

On March 9, the daily average of coronavirus deaths was 130, not 56, PolitiFact said. The peak on April 18 was 7,036 deaths, and on July 12 it was 4,945.

Claremont Graduate University associate professor Nicole Gatto told PolitiFact it's "too early" to get an accurate comparison between COVID-19 and other diseases.

"It needs to be pointed out that we have not yet had one year's experience (with the virus)," she said.

DeVos cites outdated figures

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on July 8 said only 10% of school districts continued to provide any "real curriculum and instruction program" for students after the schools were shut down in March.

"There were a number of schools and districts across the country that did an awesome job of transitioning this spring," DeVos said during a coronavirus task force news conference. "And there were a lot in which I and state school leaders were disappointed in that they didn't figure out how to continue to serve their students. Too many of them just gave up."

But the 10% figure was a reflection of the progress districts made immediately after the shutdown, according to FactCheck.org. Schools didn't give up. The number of districts providing curriculum had increased in April to 56%, and by May it was 67%.

The numbers DeVos used stem from a study of 82 urban school districts done by the Center on Reinventing Public Education, FactCheck said. The research was done in cities such as Chicago, New York, Miami and Los Angeles.

The center's director, Robin Lake, in a March 31 "U.S. News & World Report" article said the districts at that time were not providing a coherent program.

"Only 10% across the board are providing any kind of real curriculum and instruction program, which is a little alarming given most of the experts are projecting we're going to be in this mess for quite some time," she said.

Teachers not majority of antifa members

Social media posts dating back to November falsely claim the FBI has said teachers make up the largest occupation among members of the antifa, or anti-fascists, terror organizations, according to The Associated Press.

The claim has gone viral online recently, racking up more than a million views on Facebook, the AP said.

But an FBI official told the AP the organization "has not made any such statements about the occupations of people who are attracted to particular ideologies."

There is no evidence antifa members are more likely to be teachers, the AP said, and the FBI doesn't investigate people based on occupation.

"Our focus is not on membership in particular groups but on individuals who commit violence and criminal activity," the FBI told the AP.

Different George Floyd was on 'Judge Judy'

George Floyd died while in Minneapolis police custody in May, sparking protests about racial injustice.

A short time later, a video appeared online showing defendant George Floyd during a 2010 episode of "Judge Judy," a courtroom reality show, falsely claiming it was the same man who died in May, according to Snopes.com.

George Floyd IV, 17, appeared on the 2010 episode after he was accused of a carjacking in Chicago in which he told police he stole the car because he was cold while walking home, Snopes said.

But it's not the same person, Snopes said. The man who died in police custody was George Perry Floyd Jr., not George Floyd IV. And the Minneapolis Floyd was 46 years old when he died. He would have been 36 when the show was filmed, not 17.

• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.