{"id":860249,"date":"2021-10-08T15:44:08","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T19:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=860249"},"modified":"2021-10-08T15:44:09","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T19:44:09","slug":"fact-check-mcauliffe-spreads-covid-misinformation-at-candidate-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-mcauliffe-spreads-covid-misinformation-at-candidate-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: McAuliffe Spreads COVID Misinformation at Candidate Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffact-check-mcauliffe-spreads-covid-misinformation-at-candidate-forum%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=860249&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-831044368_736x514.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe incorrectly stated on Thursday night that there were 1,142 children in Virginia&#8217;s intensive care unit beds, a gross overestimation of the virus&#8217;s current impact in the state.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We in Virginia today, 1,142 children are in ICU beds,&#8221; McAuliffe stated during a roundtable discussion with local reporters. The statistic is a massive overestimation. Virginia Department of Health <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/coronavirus\/covid-19-in-virginia\/vhha-hospitalizations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statistics show<\/a> that there are a total of 443 people of all ages currently in ICU beds, a fraction of the figure McAuliffe put forth for children.<\/p>\n<p>The state database shows the number of Virginians in ICU beds infected with COVID-19 has never come close to 1,142 since the first hospitalizations in March 2020\u2014the peak of individuals hospitalized in the ICU with COVID-19 was on Jan. 13, when there were 587 cases. State records show that just 1,094 individuals younger than 19 years old have been hospitalized with COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. Children, who rarely get seriously ill from the virus, have never made up a significant chunk of hospitalized individuals.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">McAuliffe also said during the roundtable Virginia had &#8220;8,000 cases on Monday,&#8221; another exaggerated statistic. On Monday, Oct. 4, Virginia saw 1,220 &#8220;confirmed&#8221; cases and 864 &#8220;probable&#8221; cases, according to the Virginia Department of Health.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The state has never seen 8,000 confirmed cases in a day. <span class=\"im\">According to the department, Virginia&#8217;s 7-day moving case average <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/coronavirus\/covid-19-in-virginia\/covid-19-in-virginia-cases\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/coronavirus\/covid-19-in-virginia\/covid-19-in-virginia-cases\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633803861072000&amp;usg=AFQjCNELLGsHIjVe_s0X7wsYdEwfyulADA\" data-mt-detrack-inspected=\"true\">peaked<\/a> at 5,904 on Jan. 8, 2021\u2014a number thousands short of McAuliffe&#8217;s case assessment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">McAuliffe&#8217;s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on his claims.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">This is not the first time McAuliffe has falsely claimed there were 8,000 COVID-19 cases.&nbsp;Both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Mcok-vGxYnA&amp;t=441s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v%3DMcok-vGxYnA%26t%3D441s&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633803861072000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEtC7kF32vyfdm4qAPWCpuIKt8Rkw\" data-mt-detrack-inspected=\"true\">during<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MH_9IvM4hME&amp;t=94s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v%3DMH_9IvM4hME%26t%3D94s&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633803861072000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFQDtyq7Mwk7hnKjbZjQjRO6hp1fw\" data-mt-detrack-inspected=\"true\">after<\/a> a September debate against Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin, McAuliffe said the state &#8220;had 8,000 cases yesterday.&#8221; On Sept. 27\u2014the day before the debate\u2014the department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/coronavirus\/covid-19-in-virginia\/covid-19-in-virginia-cases\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/coronavirus\/covid-19-in-virginia\/covid-19-in-virginia-cases\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1633803861072000&amp;usg=AFQjCNELLGsHIjVe_s0X7wsYdEwfyulADA\" data-mt-detrack-inspected=\"true\">reported<\/a> 1,799 &#8220;confirmed&#8221; cases and 1,117 &#8220;probable&#8221; cases. The day after, the department reported 1,723 &#8220;confirmed&#8221; cases and 988 &#8220;probable&#8221; cases.<\/p>\n<p>McAuliffe used the inflated statistics during the roundtable to advocate for extreme COVID-19 mitigation efforts such as mask requirements and vaccine mandates.<\/p>\n<p>McAuliffe also falsely called his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, an &#8220;anti-vaxxer.&#8221; While Youngkin opposes mask requirements in school and vaccine mandates, he has received the vaccine and aired ads urging all Virginians to get the COVID-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>Thirteen, or 0.09 percent, of Virginia&#8217;s 13,075 deaths attributed to COVID-19 were of individuals younger than 19 years old.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe incorrectly stated on Thursday night that there were 1,142 children in Virginia&#8217;s intensive care unit beds, a gross overestimation of the virus&#8217;s current impact in &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-860249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}