Texas Tribune Corrects Claim Coronavirus Hospitalized 5,800 Children in a Week

The Texas Tribune had to issue a mea culpa this week after falsely claiming that 5,800 children were hospitalized from the coronavirus in the course of just seven days.

In an article posted Thursday, the Texas Tribune argued that pediatric hospitals in the Lone Star State were under significant stress not only from the coronavirus but also from an outbreak of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which primarily infects children aged fivee and under. Originally, the article claimed that 5,800 children were hospitalized in the course of a week when the number was actually 783 over the course of a month, between July 1 and August 9.

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.

The article also tacitly argued that Gov. Abbott’s lifting of the state’s mask mandate further accelerated the outbreak of RSV in Texas, implying that masking could be used to curtail other potentially fatal viruses.

“During the last year, RSV was largely dormant, which experts believe was due to people masking up during the pandemic. Now, in just the last several weeks, thousands of Texas children have tested positive for the virus,” reported the outlet.

“In addition, the delta variant of COVID-19 appears to affect unvaccinated children more often than previous variants. It’s unclear if children are also becoming sicker from it than from other variants of COVID-19,” it added.

Over the past month, the Biden administration has leaned heavily in favor of making children wear masks come the fall school year. Speaking with reporters on Thursday, President Biden said that children wearing masks in school should not be about politics.

“This isn’t about politics,” he said. “This is about keeping our children safe.”

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