National Media: In COVID Analysis Tallahassee Includes Gadsden County

A chart describing Tallahassee as one of the US cities with the fastest growth in COVID cases was shared on social media over the weekend by at least one Tallahassee elected officials and other community leaders.

TR looked into the numbers and discovered the reference to Tallahassee in the graphic by FOX News included a four county area of Leon, Gadsden, Jefferson and Wakulla counties.

Understanding these parameters, a quick analysis indicates that Gadsden County is at the root of the COVID case growth displayed in the graphic.

For example, two weeks ago Leon County had 136 cases per 10,000 people. The infection rate for Gadsden County at that time was almost twice the rate of Leon County at 258 cases per 10,000 people.

Since that time, the growth in COVID cases in Gadsden county has increased by 150 cases per 10,000 people to 408 cases per 10,000 people. During this same period, in Leon County the growth was 43 cases per 10,000 to 179 cases per 10,000.

This means that over the last two weeks, COVID cases in Gadsden County grew almost four times faster than in Leon County.

In addition, the positivity rate in Gadsden County during this period was greater than 10% for 10 of the 14 days. In Leon County the positivity rate has been 8.0% or lower 13 of the 14 days.

Other stats to consider:

Leon County ranks 48th out of 67 counties in Florida in cases per capita. Gadsden County ranks 6th.

Gadsden County’s per capital fatality rate is five times higher than Leon County’s fatality rate.

Staff

Staff writer at Tallahassee Reports.

View all posts by Staff →

20 Comments

  1. M. S.
    M. S.

    FOX broadcasting inaccurate information??? Surely that's a "hoax". NOT!

  2. Common Sense is Dead
    Common Sense is Dead

    Just goes to PROVE that Face Masks Don't Work! Social Distancing Doesn't Work. Wake Up America!

    1. Mike
      Mike

      Stanford University (hardly a Conservative bastion) recently took many medical studies of Coronavirus from other countries and the United States and ran through all the figures, amalgamating them down to average statistics. Their resulting figure for the average survival rate from Coronavirus was 99.95%. So, any rational person could conclude their chance of dying from this virus is negligible. Essentially, 90% of what America has done (lockdowns, masks, gloves) is an irrational reaction to a disease less lethal than the flu, which kills an average of 50k to 90k Americans every year - and millions of Americans catch the flu every year, get over it, and go on with normal life. We've never shut down America for the flu. The most danger from Coronavirus is political, used as a control tool by socialists to deliberately wreck the economy and try to win the election. The economy is starting to roar again, and Americans can't be scared by an over-hyped virus anymore.

      1. Dan S.
        Dan S.

        We've never shut down America for the flu? Are you sure? I'm sure you're not a big history buff, but there was an influenza outbreak in 1918 where many major cities did just that (they had mandatory mask ordinances as well).

        https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/03/how-cities-flattened-curve-1918-spanish-flu-pandemic-coronavirus/#close

        Do you think it's more likely that these cities banded together to win an election (Hint: not a presidential election year) and reduced death tolls were just a convenient byproduct of their scheming, or that they maybe were trying to reduce the number of people that were dying?

  3. Commodore
    Commodore

    CoronaBros and their FearPorn... it's what's for dinner.

  4. ANNE Radke
    ANNE Radke

    Tell them to drop the mask mandate. Ever since they have pushed that to get more cares money the rates have escalated... Or have they and they are just jacking the numbers so they get more money

  5. Maria
    Maria

    Let's remember that leon county, gadsden county and the other counties are within 15-20 mins. either way of each other. Therefore many residents from each of these counties crosses paths because let's face it, gadsden county and wakulla counties are like suburbs of tallahassee. While listing only Tallahassee, FL as the city name is misleading just knowing that gadsden county has had such an increase is more important to me because most people who live in that county work in Tallahassee....in my office.

  6. Gabriella Beltran
    Gabriella Beltran

    False info. Cameron County, the Brownsville-Harlingen area has had 16,000 cases as of MARCH, 2020. Not as of the last 11 days.

  7. Jon
    Jon

    Chart makes no sense. Miami has 30k new case in last 12 days. How is that not faster growth than 7k. In 24 days?

  8. Paul Henry
    Paul Henry

    "For example, two weeks ago Leon County had 136 cases per 10,000 people. The infection rate for Gadsden County at that time was almost twice the rate of Leon County at 258 cases per 10,000 people.

    Since that time, the growth in COVID cases in Gadsden county has increased by 150 cases per 10,000 people to 408 cases per 10,000 people. During this same period, in Leon County the growth was 43 cases per 10,000 to 179 cases per 10,000."

    Both Leon and Gadsden have had mask ordinances for over a month (Leon) and well over 3 months (Gadsden).

    Either this is fake news, or masks don't work like government officials think they do. Mask ordinances like new gun laws and national ID cards do not reduce what they seek to reduce. All they do is infringe further upon the freedoms of Americans.

    Short-attention span folks who demand government DO SOMETHING!!! will be pleased by these ineffective for the stated purpose ordinances. Critical thinkers however look at factual data and make informed decisions. Unfortunately nearly all of our elected officials (as well as a growing number of voters, a self-perpetuating downward spiral) fall into the first category.

  9. Steven
    Steven

    I wish the author would have at least mentioned the counties make up the Tallahassee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The numbers are from Metropolitan Statistical Areas, not cities, this is more an issue of sharing data without context than anything else.

  10. SMB
    SMB

    It appeared on FOX. The mainstream lie chanel. No more to say.

  11. Franklin Thompson
    Franklin Thompson

    Leon County has 4,859 cases as of the most recent count. Quite a difference from the Fox numbers.

  12. Hope
    Hope

    Hendry's TV commercial should show him raking in taxpayer dollars into the Tiger Bay Club - that Hendry has managed for the past 20 years - from the City of Tallahassee - approved by the mayor - exposing the tight ties between Hendry and the mayor.

    Curtis Richardson's TV commercial should show him raking in "bundled" contributions and then voting in favor for the bundlers environmentally sensitive projects.

    Curtis Richardson's second TV commercial should show a clip of him stating in the Tallahassee Democrat candidate Forum that he does not accept or never has accepted bundled contributions.

    Sheriff Walt McNeil's TV commercial should show him writing out a check with LCSO taxpayer funds to his campaign manage,r Sean Pittman, under the guise of a lobbying contract.

  13. Stan Michaels
    Stan Michaels

    The chart was posted by the lying Fox News, the champion of fake news and bending the facts!

    1. Franklin Parker
      Franklin Parker

      Fox news has been proven over and over again that they are the more credible news media outlets! Your negative remarks about Fox is unfounded, untrue and not worthy of your attention to be blinded and ignorant. You show that your level of intelligence is at zero by proclaiming Fox news is fake ? You can report that CNN, ABC, CBS AND NBC ALL REPORT, DISTORT THE TRUTH ?

      1. Piry
        Piry

        Quit drinking that faux news koolaid. They are not news they are like the Enquirer. Calling someone blind and ignorant shows your IQ level of zero.

  14. Edward Lyle
    Edward Lyle

    “... when you trust your television, what you get is what you got... ‘cause when they own the information, ohhhh, they can bend it all they want...”

    If you believe anything the liberal Media (aka: Political Action Committees), petulant pundits, or paid-for push-pollsters say... then you’ve already made your mistake.

    ... carry on

  15. Hope
    Hope

    Now the fastest growing crime rate in Tallahassee may be accurate.

  16. JLB
    JLB

    Could you tell us the name of the elected officials and the community leaders, please. I think it's important that we know their names, so that we can email them and let them know that they're spreading false information. Thank you Steve for all you do.

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